Author: claimsbot

1. A gain controllable wide-band low noise amplifier comprising:
a first transistor, coupled to an input node and an output node, amplifying an input signal to generate an output signal;
a second transistor allowing the output signal to feedback to the input node; and
a control circuit complementarily controlling transconductance of the first and second transistors,
wherein the control circuit comprises:
a main control portion having an output connected to the input node and controlling the amount of current flowing through the first transistor in response to a digital control signal; and
a feedback control portion complementarily controlling the amount of current flowing through the second transistor with respect to the amount of current flowing through the first transistor in response to an inverse of the digital control signal.
2. The low noise amplifier of claim 1, further comprising a third transistor electrically connected to the second transistor and the feedback control portion.
3. The low noise amplifier of claim 2, wherein tie main control portion comprises:
a first current source supplying a predetermined magnitude of a first reference current;
a first current mirror circuit generating a first bias current proportional to the magnitude of the first reference current in response to a complementary signal of the control signal; and
a second current mirror circuit electrically connected to the first transistor in a current mirror form and allowing the amount of current flowing through the first transistor to be proportional to the magnitude of the first bias current.
4. The low noise amplifier of claim 3, wherein the feedback control portion comprises:
a second current source supplying a predetermined magnitude of a second reference current;
a third current mirror circuit generating a second bias current proportional to the amount of the second reference current in response to the control signal; and
a fourth current mirror circuit electrically connected to the third transistor in the current mirror form and allowing the amount of current flowing through the second transistor to be proportional to the magnitude of the second bias current.
5. The low noise amplifier of claim 2, further comprising a fourth transistor disposed between the first transistor and the output node.
6. The low noise amplifier of claim 1, further comprising an output load provided between the output node and a power voltage node, the output load including a resistance device and an inductance device electrically connected in series.
7. A gain controllable wide-band low noise amplifier comprising:
an amplification portion including a first transistor connected to first node for amplifying an input signal to generate an output signal at an output node;
a feedback portion including a second transistor connected between a predetermined node and the output node and allowing the output signal to feedback to an input node;
a control circuit connected to the first node for complementarily controlling the amount of current flowing through the amplification portion and the amount of current flowing through the feedback portion; and
a third transistor connected to the control circuit and the predetermined node for controlling a current flowing through the second transistor.
8. The low noise amplifier of claim 7, wherein the first transistor of the amplification portion comprises an amplification transistor coupled to the input node and an output node, wherein the second transistor of the feedback portion comprises a feedback transistor coupled to the output node and the input node, and wherein the control circuit controls the amount of current flowing through the amplification transistor and the amount of current flowing through the feedback transistor to be inversely proportional to each other.
9. The low noise amplifier of claim 7, wherein the first transistor of the amplification portion comprises an amplification transistor pair coupled to the input node and an output node, wherein the second transistor of the feedback portion comprises a feedback transistor pair coupled to the output node and the input node, and wherein the control circuit controls the amount of current flowing through the amplification transistor pair and the amount of current flowing through the feedback transistor pair to be inversely proportional to each other.
10. The low noise amplifier of claim 7, wherein the main control portion comprises:
a first current source supplying a predetermined magnitude of a first reference current;
a first current mirror circuit generating a first bias current proportional to the magnitude of the first reference current in response to the control signal; and
a second current mirror circuit controlling the amount of current flowing through the amplification transistor to be proportional to the magnitude of the first bias current, and
the feedback control portion comprises:
a second current source supplying a predetermined magnitude of a second reference current;
a third current mirror circuit generating a second bias current proportional to the magnitude of the second reference current in response to the control signal; and
a fourth current mirror circuit controlling the magnitude of current flowing through the feedback transistor to be proportional to the magnitude of the second bias current.
11. The low noise amplifier of claim 9, further comprising a fourth transistor disposed between the amplification transistor and the output node.
12. The low noise amplifier of claim 9, further comprising a fourth transistor pair disposed between the amplification transistor pair and the output node.
13. A wide-band wireless communication receiver comprising:
a low noise amplifier amplifying an input signal;
a mixer down-converting a frequency of an output signal of the low noise amplifier;
an AD converter converting an output signal of the mixer to a digital signal; and
a digital signal processor restoring original data from the digital signal,
wherein the low noise amplifier includes:
an amplification portion amplifying an input signal to generate an output signal;
a feedback portion allowing the output signal to feedback to an input node; and
a control circuit complementarily controlling the magnitude of current flowing through the amplification portion and the magnitude of current flowing through the feedback portion,
wherein the control circuit comprises:
a main control portion having an output connected to the input node and controlling the amount of current flowing through a first transistor of the amplification portion in response to a digital control signal; and
a feedback control portion complementarily controlling the amount of current flowing through a second transistor of the feedback portion with respect to the amount of current flowing through the first transistor in response to an inverse of the digital control signal.
14. The wide-band wireless communication receiver of claim 13, wherein the digital control signal is output from the digital signal processor.

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 process for reducing or suppressing the appearance of watermarks in a hydrophobic surface of a semiconductor substrate prepared as a base substrate for epitaxial growth, which process comprises:
cleaning the hydrophobic surface of the semiconductor substrate with an aqueous solution containing hydrofluoric acid (HF) and an additional acid having a pKa of less than 3, wherein the additional acid is present in the solution at a concentration by weight that is less than that of the HF; and
final rinsing the cleaned hydrophobic surface of the semiconductor substrate with deionised water while subjecting the hydrophobic surface of the semiconductor substrate to megasonic waves for a time sufficient to reduce or suppress watermarks that could otherwise occur on the hydrophobic surface if the megasonic waves were not applied.
2. The process of claim 1, which further comprises conducting an additional rinsing with deionised water without the application of megasonic waves immediately after the cleaning and prior to the final rinsing.
3. The process of claim 1, which further comprises drying the substrate after the final rinsing.
4. The process of claim 1, wherein the megasonic waves are applied at a power in the range of at least 100 Watts and at most 1200 Watts, at a frequency of at least 1 kHz and at most 10 MHz and for a time in the range of at least 1 second and at most 5 minutes.
5. The process of claim 1, wherein the megasonic waves are applied at a power in the range of at least 800 Watts and at most 1000 Watts, at a frequency in the range of at least 700 kHz and at most 1 MHz, and for a time in the range of at least 10 seconds and at most 60 seconds.
6. The process of claim 1, wherein HF is present in the solution at a concentration in the range of 0.05% <HF by weight<49%.
7. The process of claim 1, wherein HF is present in the solution at a concentration in the range of 0.5% <HF by weight<10%.
8. The process of claim 1, wherein the additional acid has a pKa of less than 0 and the cleaning removes surface oxides and provides a hydrophobic surface for epitaxial growth.
9. The process of claim 8, wherein the additional acid is selected from the group consisting of hydrochloric acid (HCl), nitric acid (HNO3), sulphuric acid (H2SO4) and perchloric acid (HClO4).
10. The process of claim 8, wherein the additional acid is hydrochloric acid (HCl) and is present at a concentration in the range of 0.01% <HCl by weight<38%.
11. The process of claim 8, wherein the additional acid is hydrochloric acid (HCl) and is present at a concentration in the range of 0.01% <HCl by weight<5%.
12. The process of claim 1, wherein the hydrophobic surface is of the substrate is provided by a layer of silicon, strained silicon or silicon-germanium.
13. The process of claim 1, wherein the hydrophobic surface is of the substrate is provided by a layer of silicon-germanium.
14. The process of claim 1, wherein the cleaning is carried out in a single wafer cleaning device and is directly followed by the final rinsing.
15. The process of claim 1, which further comprises carrying out epitaxial growth on the cleaned and prepared hydrophobic surface of the semiconductor substrate.
16. The process of claim 15, wherein the hydrophobic surface of the substrate is provided by a layer of silicon-germanium (SiGe) layer or a strained silicon (sSi) layer.
17. The process of claim 15, wherein the hydrophobic surface of the substrate is provided by a layer of silicon-germanium (SiGe) layer having a germanium concentration of at least 20%, expressed as a percentage of Ge atoms with respect to Si atoms, at the surface of the substrate.
18. The process of claim 15, wherein the epitaxial growth comprises growth of a strained silicon (sSi) layer or a silicon-germanium (SiGe) layer on the hydrophobic surface of the semiconductor substrate.
19. A process for reducing or suppressing the appearance of watermarks in a hydrophobic surface of a semiconductor substrate prepared as a base substrate for epitaxial growth, which process comprises:
cleaning the hydrophobic surface of the semiconductor substrate with an aqueous solution containing hydrofluoric acid (HF) and hydrochloric acid (HCl), wherein the HF is present in the solution at a concentration in the range of 0.5% <HF by weight<49% and the HCl is present at a concentration in the range of 0.01% <HCl by weight<38% with the HCl present in the solution at a concentration by weight that is less than that of the HF; and
final rinsing the cleaned hydrophobic surface of the semiconductor substrate with deionised water while subjecting the hydrophobic surface of the semiconductor substrate to megasonic waves for a time sufficient to reduce or suppress watermarks that could otherwise occur on the hydrophobic surface if the megasonic waves were not applied;
wherein the megasonic waves are applied at a power in the range of at least 100 Watts and at most 1200 Watts, at a frequency of at least 1 kHz and at most 10 MHz and for a time in the range of at least 1 second and at most 5 minutes.
20. The process of claim 19 wherein the HF is present in the solution at a concentration in the range of 0.5% <HF by weight<10% and the HCl is present at a concentration in the range of 0.01% <HCl by weight<5%, and wherein the megasonic waves are applied at a power in the range of at least 800 Watts and at most 1000 Watts, at a frequency in the range of at least 700 kHz and at most 1 MHz, and for a time in the range of at least 10 seconds and at most 60 seconds.

1. A positioning system for estimating the position of a receiver that has a wireless communication function and a receiving function for signals used in GPS positioning, the system comprising:
reception state information acquisition means for acquiring reception state information indicating the reception state of a radio wave produced by the wireless communication function of the receiver;
approximate position estimation means for estimating the approximate position of the receiver and computing the precision of the approximate position on the basis of the reception state information acquired by the reception state information acquisition means;
end decision means for deciding whether or not to end the estimation of the position of the receiver on the basis of the precision computed by the approximate position estimation means, and, if it is decided to end the estimation, estimating the position of the receiver as the approximate position estimated by the approximate position estimation means and ending the estimation of the position;
indooroutdoor determination means for determining whether the receiver is indoors or outdoors on the basis of the reception state information acquired by the reception state information acquisition means; and
positioning control means for controlling the execution of GPS positioning of the receiver on the basis of a result of decision by the end decision means and a result of determination by the indooroutdoor determination means.
2. The positioning system according to claim 1, wherein the positioning control means controls the execution of positioning that estimates the position of the receiver on the basis of the result of decision by the end decision means and the result of determination by the indooroutdoor determination means and also on the basis of new reception state information acquired by the reception state information acquisition means, at a timing that differs from that of the reception state information used to estimate the approximate position by the approximate position estimation means.
3. The positioning system according to claim 2,
wherein the reception state information acquisition means acquires strength information indicating the reception strength corresponding to an emission source of the radio wave as the reception state information, and
the estimation of the approximate position by the approximate position estimation means and the estimation of the position of the receiver which uses the reception state information and the execution of which is controlled by the positioning control means, are carried out by a method in which the position of the receiver is estimated by storing in advance information indicating the relation between the position and reception strength of the radio wave corresponding to the emission source of the radio wave, and by comparing the strength information acquired by the reception state information acquisition means with the information stored in advance.
4. The positioning system according to claim 1,
wherein the reception state information acquisition means acquires information indicating the emission source of the radio wave received by the receiver as the reception state information,
the approximate position estimation means acquires information indicating the size of a communication area of the emission source indicated by the information acquired by the reception state information acquisition means, and estimates the position of the receiver on the basis of the size of the communication area, and
the end decision means decides whether or not to end the position estimation by the position estimation means on the basis of the information indicating the size of the communication area of the emission source acquired by the approximate position estimation means.
5. A positioning method for estimating the position of a receiver that has a wireless communication function and a receiving function for signals used in GPS positioning, the method comprising:
a reception state information acquisition step of acquiring reception state information indicating the reception state of a radio wave produced by the wireless communication function of the receiver;
an approximate position estimation step of estimating the approximate position of the receiver and computing the precision of the approximate position on the basis of the reception state information acquired in the reception state information acquisition step;
an end decision step of deciding whether or not to end the estimation of the position of the receiver on the basis of the precision computed in the approximate position estimation step, and, if it is decided to end the estimation, estimating the position of the receiver as the approximate position approximate position estimated in the approximate position estimation step and ending the estimation of the position;
an indooroutdoor determination step of determining whether the receiver is indoors or outdoors on the basis of the reception state information acquired in the reception state information acquisition step; and
a positioning control step of controlling the execution of GPS positioning of the receiver on the basis of a result of decision in the end decision step and a result of determination in the indooroutdoor determination step.
6. A method comprising:
(a) estimating the location of a wireless terminal via a first technique that does not use the Global Positioning System;
(b) initiating estimation of the location of said wireless terminal via a second technique that uses the Global Positioning System when, and only when:
(i) the error associated with the estimate obtained by the first technique is above a threshold, and
(ii) said wireless terminal is estimated to be outdoors; and
(c) transmitting the location estimated by said second technique when said second technique is performed.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein said wireless terminal refrains from receiving Global Positioning System signals while performing said first technique.
8. The method of claim 6 further comprising estimating whether or not said wireless terminal is outdoors.
9. The method of claim 8 wherein said wireless terminal refrains from receiving Global Positioning System signals while performing said first technique, and while estimating whether or not said wireless terminal is outdoors.
10. The method of claim 6 wherein said first technique is based on a Cell Identifier received by said wireless terminal.
11. The method of claim 10 wherein the error associated with said first technique is based on the area of the cell that is associated with said Cell Identifier.
12. The method of claim 6 wherein said first technique is based on pattern matching one or more signal strengths as received at said wireless terminal.
13. The method of claim 6 wherein said first technique is not performed by said wireless terminal.
14. A method comprising:
(a) estimating the location of a wireless terminal via a first technique and via a second technique, wherein said first technique does not use the Global Positioning System, and wherein said second technique does not use the Global Positioning System;
(b) initiating estimation of the location of said wireless terminal via a third technique that uses the Global Positioning System when, and only when:
(i) the error associated with the estimate obtained by the first technique is above a threshold,
(ii) the error associated with the estimate obtained by the second technique is above said threshold, and
(iii) said wireless terminal is estimated to be outdoors; and
(c) transmitting the location estimated by said third technique when said third technique is performed.
15. The method of claim 14 wherein said wireless terminal refrains from receiving Global Positioning System signals while performing said first technique and said second technique.
16. The method of claim 14 further comprising estimating whether or not said wireless terminal is outdoors.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein said wireless terminal refrains from receiving Global Positioning System signals while performing said first technique and said second technique, and while estimating whether or not said wireless terminal is outdoors.
18. The method of claim 14 wherein said first technique is based on a Cell Identifier received by said wireless terminal.
19. The method of claim 18 wherein the error associated with said first technique is based on the area of the cell that is associated with said Cell Identifier.
20. The method of claim 14 wherein said second technique is based on pattern matching one or more signal strengths as received at said wireless terminal.
21. The method of claim 14 wherein at least one of said first technique and said second technique is not performed by said wireless terminal.
22. A method comprising:
(a) estimating the location of a wireless terminal via a first technique that does not use the Global Positioning System;
(b) when the error associated with the estimate obtained by the first technique is above a threshold, estimating the location of said wireless terminal via a second technique that does not use the Global Positioning System; and
(c) when the errors associated with the estimates obtained by the first technique and the second technique are both above said threshold, estimating whether or not said wireless terminal is outdoors; and
(d) when the errors associated with the estimates obtained by the first technique and the second technique are both above said threshold, and said wireless terminal is estimated to be outdoors:
(i) estimating the location of said wireless terminal via a third technique that uses the Global Positioning System, and
(ii) transmitting the location estimated by said third technique.
23. The method of claim 22 wherein said wireless terminal refrains from receiving Global Positioning System signals while performing said first technique and said second technique, and while estimating whether or not said wireless terminal is outdoors.
24. The method of claim 22 wherein said first technique is based on a Cell Identifier received by said wireless terminal.
25. The method of claim 24 wherein the error associated with said first technique is based on the area of the cell that is associated with said Cell Identifier.
26. The method of claim 22 wherein said second technique is based on pattern matching one or more signal strengths as received at said wireless terminal.
27. The method of claim 26 wherein at least one of said first technique and said second technique is not performed by said wireless terminal.

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 mould segment of a vulcanisation mould for vehicle tyres with the following features:
a) A mould surface for creating the profile tread of the tyre with
b) at least one groove-shaped cut-out;
c) A lamella for creating the profile tread of the tyre is inserted into at least one of the cut-outs;
d) The lamella projects out of the cut-out, over the opening mouth of the cut-out;
e) The lamella exhibits in its section inserted into the cut-out at least one laterally projecting part piece,
f) A side of the part piece, turned towards the opening mouth is spaced from the opening mouth, whereby
g) arranged between the side of the part piece turned towards the opening mouth and the opening mouth itself is a fixing element connected to the side wall of the cut-out, said fixing element being made of wire.
2. The mould segment according to claim 1 with said mould surface being essentially curved in concave fashion.
3. The mould segment according to claim 1, in which the mould surface exhibits mould parts for creating the profile tread of the tyre.
4. The mould segment according to claim 1, with at least one section of the cut-out bent on the end side.
5. The mould segment according to claim 1, with side walls of the cut-out running essentially perpendicular to the mould surface.
6. The mould segment according to claim 1, with which the side of the part piece turned towards the opening mouth runs essentially parallel to the opening mouth.
7. The mould segment according to claim 1, with which the lamella and part piece are formed monolithically.
8. The mould segment according to claim 7, with which the part piece is curved out of the lamella.
9. The mould segment according to claim 1, with which the fixing element is welded to the side wall of the cut-out.
10. The mould segment according to claim 1, with which the fixing element extends over the length between the upper side of the part piece and the opening mouth.
11. The mould segment according to claim 1, with which a side of the fixing element facing away from the part piece runs at least in sections in the plane of the opening mouth.
12. The mould segment according to claim 1, wherein said fixing element is made of a material which is capable of being welded to the side wall of the cut-out.
13. The mould segment according to claim 1, in which said lamella has two broad sides as main surfaces and two narrow sides between said two broad sides.
14. The mould segment according to claim 13, with said part piece projecting from at least one of the broad sides of the lamella.
15. The mould segment according to claim 13, with said part piece projecting from at least one of the narrow sides of the lamella.