Author: claimsbot

1. A method for printing identifying information on a motor component having a metal surface, comprising the steps of:
holding the motor component;
discharging ink from a printing head toward a printable region on the metal surface of the motor component; and
relatively displacing a position at which the ink is applied within the printable region by moving at least one of the motor component and the printing head.
2. The method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the discharging of the ink and the relatively displacing of the position are repeated until the identifying information is entirely printed on the printable region.
3. The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein the metal surface of the motor component is curved.
4. The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein the identifying information is a two-dimensional code.
5. The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein the printable region is arranged on an outermost surface of the motor component.
6. The method as set forth in claim 5, wherein the outermost surface of the motor component includes a first portion and a second portion which are both centered about a center axis of the motor component and are connected to each other, a distance of the second portion from the center axis being slightly larger than a distance of the first portion, and the printable region is arranged on only the first portion.
7. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising the step of accelerating drying of the ink on the printable region.
8. The method as set forth in claim 7, wherein the step of accelerating drying of the ink includes the step of heating the printable region.
9. The method as set forth in claim 8, wherein in the step of heating the printable region, the printable region is heated at a temperature in a range from approximately 40\xb0 C. to approximately 140\xb0 C.
10. A method for forming identifying information on a motor component having a metal surface, comprising:
holding the motor component;
emitting light from a head to a printable region arranged on the metal surface of the motor component so as to form identifying information in the identifying information region; and
relatively displacing a position at which the light is applied within the printable region by moving at least one of the motor component and the head.
11. The method as set forth in claim 10, wherein the emitting of the light and the relatively displacing of the position are repeated until the identifying information is entirely printed on the printable region.
12. The method as set forth in claim 11, wherein the metal surface of the motor component is curved.
13. The method as set forth in claim 11, wherein the identifying information is a two-dimensional code.
14. The method as set forth in claim 11, wherein the printable region is arranged on an outermost surface of the motor component.
15. The method as set forth in claim 14, wherein the outermost surface of the motor component includes a first portion and a second portion which are both centered about a center axis of the motor component and are connected to each other, a distance of the second portion from the center axis being slightly larger than a distance of the first portion, and the printable region is arranged on only the first portion.
16. A method for reading identifying information located on a motor component having a metal surface, the method comprising the steps of:
holding the motor component;
irradiating an identifying information region arranged on the metal surface of the motor component with light from an oblique direction with respect to a normal to a center of the printable region;
capturing an image of the identifying information region using an image-capturing device arranged such that a line connecting an approximate center of the identifying information region to the image-capturing device is at an angle relative to the normal to the center of the identifying information region; and
acquiring the identifying information based on an output of the image-capturing device.
17. The method as set forth in claim 16, wherein the light with which the identifying information region is irradiated is emitted from a plurality of light sources arranged such that a line connecting the center of the identifying information region to each of the light sources is at an angle relative to the normal to the center of the printable region, and is then reflected by a reflecting portion toward the printable region.
18. The method as set forth in claim 16, wherein the metal surface of the motor component is curved.
19. The method as set forth in claim 17, wherein the light emitted from the plurality of light sources is reflected and scattered by an approximately cylindrical reflecting surface of the reflecting portion, the reflecting surface being arranged around the motor component.
20. The method as set forth in claim 19, wherein the reflecting portion is an approximately cylindrical casing accommodating the image-capturing device and the light sources therein, and an inner side surface of the reflecting portion includes a reflective portion defining the reflecting surface.
21. The method as set forth in claim 17, wherein the light sources are arranged about the image-capturing device over an entire circumference thereof.
22. A method for managing a motor component having a metal surface, the method comprising the steps of:
holding the motor component;
printing identifying information on a printable region arranged on the metal surface of the motor component by discharging ink from a printing head toward the printable region and relatively displacing a position at which the ink reaches within the printable region by moving one of the motor component and the printing head relative to the other;
reading the identifying information on the motor component by the method as set forth in claim 16; and
cleaning the motor component prior to the printing of the identifying information.
23. A method for managing a motor component having a metal surface, comprising:
holding the motor component;
printing identifying information on a printable region arranged on the metal surface of the motor component by irradiating the printable region with light from an oblique direction with respect to a normal to a center of the printable region, and relatively displacing a position emitted by the light within the printable region by moving one of the motor component and a light source relative to the other;
reading the identifying information on the motor component by the method as set forth in claim 16; and
cleaning the motor component prior to the printing of the identifying information.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A functionalized polymer defined by the formula:
where \u03c0 includes a polymer chain, R1 includes a monovalent organic group, R2 includes a hydrocarbyl group or a substituted hydrocarbyl group or a hydroxy group, R3 includes a divalent organic group, R4 includes a monovalent organic group, and M includes silicon (Si) or tin (Sn).
2. A vulcanizable rubber composition comprising the functionalized polymer of claim 1.
3. A tire component comprising a vulcanizate of the functionalized polymer of claim 2.
4. The tire component of claim 3, where the tire component is a tire tread.
5. The functionalized polymer of claim 1, where \u03c0 has a Tg of less than \u221220\xb0 C.
6. The functionalized polymer of claim 1, where \u03c0 is selected from the group consisting of polybutadiene, polyisoprene, poly(styrene-co-butadiene), poly(styrene-co-butadiene-co-isoprene), poly(isoprene-co-styrene), and poly(butadiene-co-isoprene).
7. The functionalized polymer of claim 6, where \u03c0 has an Mn of from about 5 to about 1,000 kgmole.
8. The functionalized polymer of claim 1, where R1 and R2 are monovalent organic groups selected from the groups consisting of alkyl, cycloalkyl, substituted cycloalkyl, alkenyl, cycloalkenyl, substituted cycloalkenyl, aryl, allyl, substituted aryl, aralkyl, alkaryl, and alkynyl groups.
9. The functionalized polymer of claim 8, where R1 and R2 may each individually be an alkyl group including from about 1 to about 10 carbon atoms.
10. The functionalized polymer of claim 9, where R1 and R2 include less than 7 carbon atoms.
11. The functionalized polymer of claim 1, where R2 is an alkoxy group.
12. The functionalized polymer of claim 11, where R1 is an alkyl group and R2 is an alkoxy group.
13. The functionalized polymer of claim 1, where R4 is an alkyl group including from 1 to 20 carbon atoms.
14. The functionalized polymer of claim 13, where R4 includes less than 12 carbon atoms.
15. The functionalized polymer of claim 14, where R4 includes less than 8 carbon atoms.
16. The functionalized polymer of claim 1, where the functionalized polymer is defined by the formula:
where \u03b1 is a functionality or functional group that reacts or interacts with rubber or rubber fillers or otherwise has a desirable impact on filled rubber compositions or vulcanizates, \u03c0 includes a polymer chain, R1 includes a monovalent organic group, R2 includes a monovalent organic group or a hydroxy group, R3 includes a divalent organic group, R4 includes a hydrocarbyl group or a substituted hydrocarbyl group, and M includes silicon (Si) or tin (Sn).
17. The functionalized polymer of claim 16, where \u03b1 reduces the 50\xb0 C. hysteresis loss of vulcanizates including the functional group when compared to similar vulcanizates not including the functional group.
18. The functionalized polymer of claim 1, where M is silicon.
19. The functionalized polymer of claim 1, where M is tin.

1. A method of fabricating a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
etching a trench in a substrate;
filling the trench with a spin-on-glass liquid forming a spin-on-glass liquid layer containing a solvent;
baking the spin-on-glass liquid layer in order to remove the solvent thus forming a baked layer;
etching the baked layer to a predetermined depth using an etchant that provides a larger etch rate with regard to silicon than with regard to silicon nitride or silicon oxide; and
after etching the baked layer, annealing the remaining baked layer to form a spin-on-glass oxide layer inside the trench.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
before etching the baked layer, forming an etch mask over the substrate such that at least a part of the substrate and at least a part of the baked layer is exposed;
wherein the exposed part of the baked layer and the exposed part of the substrate are etched using an etchant that provides identical or at least very similar etch rates in the substrate and in the baked layer.
3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein
the substrate comprises a silicon substrate; and
the exposed part of the baked layer and the exposed part of the silicon substrate are etched using an etchant that provides identical or at least very similar etch rates in silicon and in the baked layer.
4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein:
etching a trench comprises etching at least two parallel trenches in the silicon substrate, the parallel trenches enclosing a stripe-like active area therebetween;
filling the trench comprises filling the two parallel trenches with the spin-on-glass liquid; and
forming an etch mask comprises forming the etch mask over the substrate such that at least one stripe-like zone is exposed, the at least one stripe-like zone defining a future word line of a memory device, the stripe-like zone being perpendicular or inclined relative to the stripe-like active area.
5. The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising fabricating a plurality of transistors in the stripe-like active area, each transistor belonging to a memory cell of the memory device.
6. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein forming an etch mask comprises forming the etch mask over the substrate such that a plurality of parallel stripe-like zones are exposed, each stripe-like zone defining a future word line of the memory device and being perpendicular or inclined relative to the stripe-like active area.
7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein etching the baked layer comprises etching the baked layer to a predetermined depth such that the baked layer remains in a lower region of the trench, the method further comprising filling an upper region of the trench with a protective isolating material before or after annealing the remaining baked layer.
8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein during the step of baking the spin-on-glass liquid layer a polysilazane layer is formed.
9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein baking the spin-on-glass liquid layer comprises forming a perhydro-polysilazane layer.
10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the etchant comprises an alkaline solution.
11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the etchant comprises an ammonia-containing liquid.
12. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the alkaline solution contains ammonium hydroxide.
13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein etching the baked layer is carried out using an etch gas.
14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said etch gas contains Ar, He, N2, Cl2, HCl, HBr, SF6, CF4, NF3 or CHF3.
15. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein etching the baked layer comprises etching the baked layer in a plasma process chamber.
16. The method as claimed in claim 15, wherein etching the baked layer comprises applying a predefined RF source power to the plasma process chamber in order to generate an isotropic etch plasma inside the chamber.
17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein a predefined RF bias power is applied to the plasma process chamber in order to achieve an anisotropic etch behavior, the predefined RF bias power smaller than the predefined RF source power.
18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the predefined RF bias power is switched off during the step of etching the baked spin-on-glass liquid layer to the predetermined depth.
19. The method as claimed in claim 18, further comprising performing a planarization etch step prior to etching the baked layer.
20. The method as claimed in claim 19, wherein the planarization etch step is performed using a second etch gas that differs from the etch gas during the recess etch step.
21. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein the second etch gas contains Cl2, HCl or HBr.
22. The method as claimed in claim 20, wherein a bias power applied during the planarization etch step is larger than a bias applied during the etching of the baked layer to the predetermined depth.
23. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the protective isolating material comprises silicon oxide or silicon nitride.
24. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the etch rate of the etchant is at least 20 times larger with regard to silicon or polysilicon than with regard to silicon oxide or silicon nitride.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A semiconductor device comprising:
a semiconductor layer; and
a metal layer forming a Schottky junction with a surface of the semiconductor layer and comprising titanium and aluminum,
wherein a concentration of aluminum is from about 0.05% by weight to about 0.5% by weight of the metal layer.
2. The semiconductor device of claim 1, further comprising a semiconductor substrate, wherein the semiconductor layer comprises an epitaxial layer formed on the semiconductor substrate.
3. A semiconductor device comprising:
a semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type;
a semiconductor layer of the first conductivity type that is formed on the semiconductor substrate; and
a metal layer forming a Schottky junction with a surface of the semiconductor layer and comprising titanium and aluminum,
wherein a concentration of aluminum is from about 0.05% by weight to about 0.5% by weight of the metal layer.
4. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising:
providing an alloy comprising titanium and aluminum and having an aluminum concentration of from about 0.05% by weight to about 0.5% weight of the alloy;
providing a semiconductor substrate comprising a semiconductor layer that is at least partially exposed on a surface of the semiconductor substrate; and
forming a thin film of the alloy on the semiconductor substrate so as to contact with the semiconductor layer.