Author: claimsbot

What is claimed is:

1. A method of fabricating a semiconductor device including a superposition inspection step for determining propernessimproperness of a superposed position of a resist film formed on a superposed layer as a superpositive layer with a superposition inspection apparatus, comprising:
a step of reading information of a superposed layer superposition mark provided on said superposed layer;
a step of reading information of a resist film superposition mark provided on said resist film;
a mark position determination step of reading the positional relation between said superposed layer superposition mark and said resist film superposition mark from said information of said superposed layer superposition mark and said information of said resist film superposition mark and determining propernessimproperness of the position of formation of said resist film with respect to said superposed layer; and
a mark determination step of comparing said information of said resist film superposition mark with information of a registered resist film superposition mark previously registered in said superposition inspection apparatus thereby determining whether or not said resist film superposition mark coincides with said registered resist film superposition mark.
2. The method of fabricating a semiconductor device including a superposition inspection step according to claim 1, wherein
said step of reading said information of said superposed layer superposition mark reads information of a mark formed on an etched layer provided on said superposed layer to reflect the shape of said superposed layer superposition mark.
3. The method of fabricating a semiconductor device including a superposition inspection step according to claim 1, wherein
said information of said resist film superposition mark is information based on the position of said resist film superposition mark.
4. The method of fabricating a semiconductor device including a superposition inspection step according to claim 1, wherein
said information of said resist film superposition mark is information based on the outer dimension of said resist film superposition mark.
5. The method of fabricating a semiconductor device including a superposition inspection step according to claim 1, wherein
said information of said resist film superposition mark is information based on the pattern shape of said resist film superposition mark.

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.-14. (canceled)
15. Atomized alloy particles, each comprising a matrix metal comprising Cu, an environmental resistance-imparting alloying element substantially in solid solution in the matrix metal to provide a particle alloy matrix, and dispersoids formed in-situ in the particle alloy matrix during atomization, wherein the particles include a surface compound thereon formed during atomization by reaction of a reactive species and the alloying element.
16. The particles of claim 15 having at least a surface region that contains the dispersoids.
17. The particles of claim 16 wherein the surface region has a thickness greater than 1 micrometer.
18. (canceled)
19. The particles of claim 15 wherein the alloying element is selected from the group consisting of Cr, Mo, W, V, Nb, Ta, Ti, Zr, Ni, Si and B.
20. The particles of claim 15 wherein the dispersoids include a dispersoid-forming element that is selected from the group consisting of Sc, Y, and a Lanthanide series element having an atomic number from 57 to 71.
21. (canceled)
22. The particles of claim 20 wherein the dispersoids include a dispersoid-forming element is selected from the group consisting of Ti, Ce, Sr, Zr, Mg, Hf, Be, and Si.
23. The particles of claim 15 wherein the dispersoids comprise a refractory compound that comprises oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, boron, silicon, or fluorine.
24. A deposit comprising the atomized alloy particles of claim 15 deposited on a support.
25. A consolidated body comprising the particles of claim 15 that are vacuum hot pressed, hot isostatic pressed, hot extruded, or direct hot powder forged.
26. A consolidated body comprising the deposit of claim 24 that is hot extruded or hot forged.
27. A sintered body comprising previously atomized alloy particles, each particle comprising a matrix metal comprising Cu, an environmental resistance-imparting alloying element substantially in solid solution in the matrix metal to provide a particle alloy matrix, and dispersoids formed in-situ in the particle alloy matrix during atomization and wherein the particles include a surface compound thereon formed during atomization by reaction of a reactive species and the alloying element, wherein said particles of said sintered body are sintered together and wherein the surface compound formed on the particles during atomization by reaction of the reactive species and the alloying element functions during sintering as a source of the reactive species to form more dispersoids in the sintered body.
28. A sintered body comprising a deposit comprising previously atomized particles deposited on a support, each particle comprising a matrix metal comprising Cu, an environmental resistance-imparting alloying element substantially in solid solution in the matrix metal to provide a particle alloy matrix, and dispersoids formed in-situ in the particle alloy matrix during atomization wherein the particles include a surface compound thereon formed during atomization by reaction of a reactive species and the alloying element, wherein the particles of said sintered body are sintered together and wherein the surface compound formed on the particles during atomization by reaction of the reactive species and the alloying element functions during sintering as a source of the reactive species to form more dispersoids in the sintered body.
29. The particles of claim 15 wherein the surface compound comprises a surface oxide formed by reaction of the reactive species that comprises oxygen and the alloying element.

1. A method for managing tasks in a transaction processing system, the method comprising:
maintaining a transaction log of recoverable changes made by transaction processing tasks;
storing a log management policy including at least one the log space related log threshold;
monitoring usage of the log by a plurality of transaction processing tasks to determine when a log space related log threshold is reached; and
in response to determining that the log space related log threshold has been reached:
identifying an active task having the oldest log entry of all active tasks; and
increasing a dispatching priority of the identified task.
2. A method according to claim 1, wherein a log threshold specified in the log management policy is reached when trimming of the log is inhibited at a predetermined number of successive keypoints.
3. A method according to claim 1, wherein a log threshold specified in the log management policy is reached when an estimate of the time left until the log is full is less than a predetermined period of time.
4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the log management policy defines a series of log thresholds, each having one or more actions associated therewith which may be taken when the associated log threshold is reached.
5. A method according to claim 1, in which an action associated with a log threshold comprises emitting a warning message.
6. A transaction processing system comprising: a memory including
a transaction log containing log records identifying recoverable changes made by transaction processing tasks;
a log management policy including at least one log space related log threshold;
a log manager for monitoring usage of the transaction log by transaction processing tasks to determine when a log space related log threshold is reached, and for identifying an active task having the oldest log entry of all active tasks; and
a dispatcher for selecting tasks for processing, and which is operable to increase a dispatching priority of the identified task in response to a determination that the log space related log threshold has been reached.
7. A transaction processing system according to claim 6, wherein the log management policy defines a series of log thresholds, each having one or more actions associated therewith.
8. A transaction processing system according to claim 6, further comprising means for storing a count value indicative of a number of successive keypoints at which trimming of the log has been inhibited.
9. A transaction processing system according to claim 6, further comprising means for estimating the time left before the log becomes full.
10. A transaction processing system according to claim 6, further comprising a message emitter, and in which an action associated with a log threshold comprises emitting a warning message.
11. A transaction processing system according to claim 6, further comprising a transaction manager, and in which a series of log thresholds have the following series of associated actions: the transaction manager purging the identified task, force-purging the identified task and killing the identified task.
12. A computer program product for transaction processing, the computer program product comprising a hardware computer memory having computer readable program code embodied therewith, that when loaded into a computer system and executed thereon, causes the computer to perform the steps of a method comprising:
maintaining a transaction log of recoverable changes made by transaction processing tasks;
storing a log management policy including at least one log space related log threshold;
monitoring usage of the log by a plurality of transaction processing tasks to determine when a log space related log threshold is reached;
in response to determining that the log space related log threshold has been reached:
identifying an active task having the oldest log entry of all active tasks;
increasing a dispatching priority of the identified task;

wherein a log threshold specified in the log management policy is reached when trimming of the log is inhibited at a predetermined number of successive keypoints;
wherein a log threshold specified in the log management policy is reached when an estimate of the time left until the log is full is less than a predetermined period of time;
wherein the log management policy defines a series of log thresholds, each having one or more actions associated therewith which may be taken when the associated log threshold is reached; and
in which an action associated with a log threshold comprises emitting a warning message.

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 sputtering target comprising a sputterable material consisting essentially of tin and niobium, wherein the tin accounts for a major percentage of the sputterable material, wherein the target is a rotatable cylindrical sputtering target and the sputterable material is present in the form of a plasma andor flame sprayed layer carried by a cylindrical backing tube.
2. The sputtering target of claim 1 wherein tin accounts for greater than about 90 atomic percent of the sputterable material.
3. The sputtering target of claim 1 wherein tin accounts for greater than about 95 atomic percent of the sputterable material.
4. The sputtering target of claim 1 wherein the target has a length of at least about 12 inches.
5. The sputtering target of claim 4, wherein the target has a length of at least about 30 inches.
6. The sputtering target of claim 1, wherein tin accounts for greater than about 97 atomic percent of the sputterable material.
7. The sputtering target of claim 1, wherein the cylindrical backing tube extends laterally beyond the edges of the sputterable material carried on the cylindrical backing tube, to enable the target to be mounted in a sputtering chamber.
8. The sputtering target of claim 1, further comprising a bonding layer between the cylindrical backing tube and the sputterable material.
9. The sputtering target of claim 1 wherein a magnet is positioned within an interior of the target.
10. A method of depositing a desired film comprising both tin and niobium, the method comprising providing a tin-containing sputtering target and a niobium-containing sputtering target, positioning both targets in a sputtering chamber having a sputtering cavity in which a controlled environment can be established, and delivering electric charge to both targets, either simultaneously or in succession, to establish a sputtering process so as to sputter deposit said desired film onto a substrate having a major surface oriented generally toward both targets, thereby either depositing said desired film directly upon said major surface of the substrate or directly upon a film previously deposited upon said major surface of the substrate.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein said sputtering process is selected from the group consisting of D.C. sputtering and A.C. sputtering.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein said sputtering process is a pulsed D.C. sputtering technique.
13. The method of claim 11 wherein said sputtering process is a biased A.C. sputtering technique.
14. The method of claim 10 wherein the method involves a co-sputtering technique such that the niobium-containing target and the tin-containing target are sputtered simultaneously.
15. The method of claim 10 wherein said desired film is an oxide film, and either said sputter depositing involves a reactive sputter deposition technique carried out in an oxidizing atmosphere or oxygen is contained in one or both of the tin-containing target and the niobium-containing target.
16. The method of claim 10 wherein said sputter depositing is carried out such that said desired film comprises tin, niobium, oxygen, and nitrogen.
17. The method of claim 10 wherein said sputter depositing is carried out such that said desired film consists essentially of tin, niobium, and oxygen.
18. The method of claim 10 wherein said sputter depositing is carried out such that said desired film comprises greater than about 95 atomic percent tin and less than about 5 atomic percent niobium, said percentages being relative to a total number of metal atoms of said desired film.
19. The method of claim 10 wherein said sputter depositing is carried out in a gaseous atmosphere at a working pressure of between about 2 mTorr. and about 5 mTorr.
20. The method of claim 10 wherein the major dimension of the glass sheet is at least about 12 inches.
21. The method of claim 10 wherein the major dimension of the glass sheet is at least about 30 inches.
22. A method of depositing a desired film comprising both tin and niobium, the method comprising providing one or more targets, positioning said one or more targets in a sputtering chamber having a sputtering cavity containing an oxidizing gaseous atmosphere at a working pressure of between about 2 mTorr. and about 5 mTorr., and delivering electric charge to said one or more targets to sputter deposit said desired film onto a glass substrate having a major surface oriented generally toward said one or more targets, thereby either depositing said desired film directly upon said major surface of the substrate or directly upon a film previously deposited upon said major surface of the substrate, wherein the glass substrate has a major dimension of at least about 24 inches.
23. The method of claim 22 wherein said sputter depositing is carried out such that said desired film has a thickness of between 200 angstroms and 3,500 angstroms.
24. The method of claim 23 wherein said thickness is between 250 angstroms and 2,500 angstroms.
25. The method of claim 24 wherein said thickness is between 350 angstroms and 1,800 angstroms.
26. The method of claim 22 wherein said sputter depositing is carried out such that said desired film comprises tin, niobium, oxygen, and nitrogen.
27. The method of claim 22 wherein said sputter depositing is carried out such that said desired film consists essentially of tin, niobium, and oxygen.
28. The method of claim 22 wherein said sputter depositing is carried out such that said desired film comprises greater than about 95 atomic percent tin and less than about 5 atomic percent niobium, said percentages being relative to a total number of metal atoms of said desired film.