Author: claimsbot

1. A semiconductor device with an increased effective gate length or an increased effective channel width, comprising:
an active area on a substrate;
an oxide isolation structure in the substrate, wherein the oxide isolation structure surrounds the active area;
a gate across the active area and the oxide isolation structure, wherein the oxide isolation structure below the gate has a top surface lower than a top surface of the active area by a depth;
a gate dielectric layer disposed between the gate and the substrate; and
a source and a drain respectively located in the exposed active area on two sides of the gate.
2. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein the oxide isolation structure comprises a shallow trench isolation structure or a field oxide isolation structure.
3. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein the gate dielectric layer is made from a high-k dielectric material selected from a group consisting of hafnium silicate, zirconium silicate, hafnium dioxide, zirconium dioxide, and any combinations thereof.
4. The semiconductor device of claim 1, wherein the gate is made from a metal selected from a group consisting of Al, W, Ta, TaN, TiN, or any combinations thereof.
5. An integrated circuit (IC) structure having devices with various effective gate lengths or various effective channel widths, the integrated circuit structure comprising:
a first active area and a second active area on a substrate;
a first oxide isolation structure and a second oxide isolation structure in the substrate, wherein the first and the second oxide isolation structures respectively surround the first and the second active areas;
a first gate across the first active area, and a second gate across the second active area, wherein the second oxide isolation structure below the second gate has a top surface lower than a top surface of the second active area by a depth;
a first gate dielectric layer disposed between the first gate and the substrate, and a second gate dielectric layer disposed between the second gate and the substrate; and
a first source and a first drain respectively located in the exposed first active area on two sides of the first gate, and a second source and a second drain respectively located in the exposed second active area on two sides of the second gate.
6. The IC structure of claim 5, wherein the first oxide isolation structure and the second oxide isolation structure comprise a shallow trench isolation structure or a field oxide isolation structure.
7. The IC structure of claim 5, wherein the first and the second gate dielectric layers are made from a high-k dielectric material.
8. The IC structure of claim 5, wherein the gate comprises a metal gate.
9. The IC structure of claim 7, further comprising spacers disposed on sidewalls of the first and the second gates.
10. The IC structure of claim 9, further comprising an etching stop layer disposed on the first and the second gates, the spacers, the first and the second active areas, and the first and the second oxide isolation structures.
11. The IC structure of claim 10, further comprising a dielectric layer disposed on the etching stop layer.
12. A method of adjusting effective gate length of a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
forming a first dummy semiconductor device and a second dummy semiconductor device respectively on a first area and a second area of a substrate;
sequentially forming an etching stop layer and a dielectric layer on the first and the second semiconductor devices and the substrate;
exposing top surfaces of a first dummy gate of the first dummy semiconductor device and a second dummy gate of the second dummy semiconductor device by removing the etching stop layer and the dielectric layer above the top surfaces of the first dummy gate and the second dummy gate;
removing the first dummy gate and the second dummy gate, as well as a first dummy gate oxide layer under the first dummy gate and a second dummy gate oxide layer under the second dummy gate to form a first gate opening and a second gate opening;
lowering a top surface of an oxide isolation structure exposed by the second gate opening by selectively etching the oxide isolation structure exposed by the second gate opening;
forming a first and a second gate dielectric layers respectively in the first and the second gate openings; and
forming a first and a second metal gates respectively on the first and the second gate dielectric layers, whereby the second metal gate has a longer effective gate length than the first gate has.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the oxide isolation structure exposed by the second gate opening is selectively etched by a method comprising:
forming a photoresist layer on the substrate;
patterning the photoresist layer to expose the second area; and
etching the oxide isolation structure exposed by the second gate opening in the second area.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein the etching stop layer is a silicon oxynitride layer or a silicon nitride layer.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein the dielectric layer comprises a low-k dielectric layer.
16. The method of claim 12, wherein the top surfaces of the first dummy gate and the second dummy gate are exposed by performing a process of blanket etching or chemical mechanical polishing.
17. The method of claim 12, wherein the first dummy gate, the second dummy gate, the first dummy gate oxide layer, and the second dummy gate oxide layer are removed by wet etching or dry etching.
18. The method of claim 12, wherein the first and the second gate dielectric layers comprises a high-k dielectric layer.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the high-k dielectric layer are formed by metal organic chemical vapor deposition, or molecular beam epitaxial deposition.
20. The method of claim 12, wherein the first and the second metal gates are formed by physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, or atomic layer deposition.

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 heating device comprising a ceramic element, wherein the ceramic element comprises a tip on a first end; a base on a second end opposite of the first end; and an outer surface extending from the tip to the base and defining a non-planar three-dimensional shape; and an opening proximate to the base, the opening terminating within the ceramic element defining a hollow inner surface of the ceramic element.
2. The heating device of claim 1, wherein the ceramic element is a positive temperature coefficient ceramic.
3. The heating device of claim 1, further comprising a housing shaped to conform with the outer surface of the ceramic element.
4. The heating device of claim 1, further comprising a protective coating on the outer surface of the ceramic element to protect the ceramic element from abrasion.
5. The heating device of claim 1, wherein the outer surface of the ceramic element is a generally conical shape.
6. The heating device of claim 1, further comprising a conductive coating sputtered onto the ceramic element.
7. The heating device of claim 6, wherein the conductive coating comprises titanium.
8. The heating device of claim 7, wherein the conductive coating further comprises silver and a nickel-vanadium alloy.
9. The heating device of claim 1, further comprising a first electrode and second electrode attached to the ceramic element.
10. The heating device of claim 9, wherein the first electrode is attached to the outer surface of the ceramic element and the second electrode is attached to the hollow inner surface of the ceramic element.
11. The heating device of claim 10, wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are soldered connections.
12. The heating device of claim 1, wherein the ceramic element is proximate to a surface of a sensor.
13. The heating device of claim 12, wherein the sensor is a pitot tube air speed sensor.
14. The heating device of claim 12, wherein the sensor is an angle of attack sensor.
15. The heating device of claim 1, wherein the outer surface of the ceramic element comprises: a length in a first plane having an axis parallel to the first plane; and a diameter in a second plane having an axis orthogonal to the first plane, wherein the diameter varies along the length from the tip to the base.
16. A heating device comprising: a ceramic element, wherein the ceramic element comprises a tip on a first end, a base on a second end opposite of the first end, and an outer surface extending from the tip to the base and defining a non-planar three-dimensional shape; an opening proximate to the base, the opening terminating within the ceramic element defining a hollow inner surface of the ceramic element; a first electrode attached to the outer surface of the ceramic element; a second electrode attached to the hollow inner surface of the ceramic element; and a sensor disposed proximate to the outer surface of the ceramic element.
17. The heating device of claim 16, further comprising a housing shaped to conform with the shape of the outer surface of the ceramic element.
18. The heating device of claim 16, further comprising a protective coating on the outer surface to protect the ceramic element from abrasion.
19. The heating device of claim 16, wherein the ceramic element is a positive temperature coefficient ceramic.

1. An aggregate dispersant comprising a polymer in which an anionic polar group is bonded to a main chain.
2. The aggregate dispersant of claim 1, wherein the polymer is polyacrylic acid.
3. The aggregate dispersant of claim 1, wherein the anionic polar group of the polymer is neutralized by an alkali metal base, and a neutralization level of the anionic polar group by the alkali metal base is within a range of from 80 mol % to 100 mol %.
4. The aggregate dispersant of claim 1, wherein the polymer has a weight average molecular weight more than 4000 and less than 90000, or equal to 90000.
5. A method of manufacturing an aggregate of resin-containing particles, comprising: aggregating the resin-containing particles containing binder resin and colorant by using the aggregate dispersant of claim 1 and a salt of divalent or higher valent metal.
6. The method of claim 5, comprising:
a dispersing step for dispersing in an aqueous medium, irregular resin particles containing the binder resin and the colorant in the presence of the aggregate dispersant, to obtain a slurry of the irregular resin particles;
a finely-granulating step for finely granulating the irregular resin particles contained in the slurry to obtain a slurry of the resin-containing particles; and
an aggregating step for aggregating the resin-containing particles by adding the salt of divalent or higher valent metal to the slurry of the resin-containing particles.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein a temperature of the slurry in the finely-granulating step is less than a reference temperature (Tg \xb0 C.+100\xb0 C.) which is an addition of a glass transition temperature Tg \xb0 C. and 100\xb0 C.
8. The method of claim 6, wherein an amount of the salt of divalent or higher valent metal added to the slurry of the resin-containing particles is such that a total valence of an anionic polar group contained in the polymer is larger than a total valence of the salt of divalent of higher valent metal.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein a ratio of the salt of divalent or higher valent metal added to the slurry of the resin-containing particles is 65 parts by weight to 300 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the aggregate dispersant.
10. The method of claim 6, wherein the salt of divalent or higher valent metal is used in form of solution.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein concentration of the salt of divalent or higher valent metal in the solution of the salt of divalent or higher valent metal is 5% by weight to 30% by weight.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the solution of the salt of divalent or higher valent metal drips into the slurry of the resin-containing particles at a drip rate of 0.05 mLmin to 0.20 mLmin.
13. The method of claim 6, wherein a use ratio of the resin-containing particles is in a range of from 3 parts by weight to 50 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the aqueous medium.
14. The method of claim 5, wherein a volume average particle diameter of the resin-containing particles is in a range of from 0.4 \u03bcm to 2.0 \u03bcm.
15. The method of claim 5, wherein a use ratio of the aggregate dispersant is in a range of from 5 parts by weight to 20 parts by weight based on 100 parts by weight of the resin-containing particles.
16. A toner comprising an aggregate of resin-containing particles manufactured by the method of manufacturing an aggregate of resin-containing particles of claim 5.
17. The toner of claim 16, wherein in the resin-containing particles are dispersed colorant particles and release agent particles in binder resin,
colorant particles having a dispersion diameter of 0.01 \u03bcm to 0.5 \u03bcm occupies 70% by number or more of total colorant particles contained in the toner; and
release agent particles having a dispersion diameter of 0.1 \u03bcm to 1.0 \u03bcm occupies 50% by number or more of total release agent particles contained in the toner.
18. A developer comprising the toner of claim 16.
19. A developing apparatus that forms a toner image by developing a latent image formed on an image bearing member using the developer of claim 18.
20. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an image bearing member on which a latent image is formed;
a latent image forming member for forming a latent image on the image bearing member; and
the developing apparatus of claim 19.

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 method of storing charging data in an IP Multimedia Services (IMS) network, the method comprising:
receiving a message at a network entity;
identifying a charging priority value of the message relating to charging data associated with the message;
including the charging priority value in a charging request message; and
forwarding the charging request message to a charging control system.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to receiving the message:
receiving a registration request from a user;
assigning a charging priority value to the user; and
forwarding the assigned priority value to network entities serving the user.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising detecting at the IMS network entity that the charging control system is unable to receive charging data and storing the associated charging data.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein if the charging data is to be stored on a storage medium, then if a capacity limit of the storage medium is reached, the charging data over-writes data already stored on the storage medium that has a lower charging priority value.
5. The method of any of claim 1, further comprising downloading priority value data for messages associated with a user when the user registers with the IMS.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the priority value data is downloaded from the user’s Home Subscriber Server (HSS) as part of the user profile.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority value data comprises different priority values for different types of messages.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying one of a plurality of charging control systems to which the charging data is to be sent based on the priority value, and wherein the charging request message is forwarded to the identified charging control system.
9. An IP Multimedia Services (IMS) network entity configured to identify a charging priority value relating to charging data associated with an IMS messaging transaction, and to include the charging priority value in a charging request message sent to a charging control system in the IMS network.
10. The IMS network entity of claim 9 wherein the charging priority value is a predetermined value related to a user of the messaging transaction that is stored in the network entity when the user registers with the IMS network.
11. The IMS network entity of claim 9 wherein the charging priority value is a predetermined value stored in the network entity based on a property or type of message of the messaging transaction.
12. The IMS network entity of claim 9 further configured to detect that the charging system in the network is unable to receive charging data, and to store the charging data on a storage medium, wherein if the data stored in the storage medium reaches a capacity limit of the storage medium, the charging data over-writes data already stored on the storage medium that has a lower charging priority value.
13. The IMS network entity of claim 9, further configured to identify one of a plurality of charging control systems to which the charging data is to be sent based on the priority value, and to forward the charging request message to the identified charging control system.
14. The IMS network entity of claim 9, wherein the entity is one of: a CallSession Control Function (CSCF), a Breakout Gateway Control Function (BGCF), a Media Gateway Control Function (MGCF), a Media Resource Function Controller (MRFC) and an Application Server (AS).
15. An IP Multimedia Services (IMS) network entity configured to identify a charging priority value in respect of a user registering with the IMS network, and to provide the charging priority value to one or more other network nodes serving the user.
16. The IMS network node of claim 15 wherein the network entity is a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) of the user.