All The Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of removing Group VIII metal-containing material from a surface of a substrate, the method comprising contacting the Group VIII metal-containing material with an acidic composition comprising phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and hydrochloric acid.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the substrate is a semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein the semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly is a wafer.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the phosphoric acid is present in the composition initially in an amount of at least about 10 vol-% and no greater than about 25 vol-%.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the sulfuric acid is present in the composition initially in an amount of at least about 10 vol-% and no greater than about 50 vol-%.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the nitric acid is present in the composition initially in an amount of at least about 0.25 vol-% and no greater than about 10 vol-%.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the nitric acid is present in the composition initially in an amount of at least about 0.25 vol-% and no greater than about 1 vol-%.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the hydrochloric acid is present in the composition initially in an amount of at least about 25 vol-% and no greater than about 50 vol-%.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the Group VIII metal-containing surface of the substrate comprises platinum in elemental form or an alloy thereof with one or more other Group VIII metals.
10. The method of claim 9 wherein the Group VIII metal-containing surface comprises a platinum alloy.
11. The method of claim 9 wherein the Group VIII metal-containing surface comprises elemental platinum or a platinumrhodium alloy.
12. The method of claim 11 wherein the Group VIII metal-containing surface comprises a platinumrhodium alloy comprising at least about 60 atomic percent platinum and no greater than about 40 atomic percent rhodium.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein contacting the Group VIII metal-containing material with an acidic composition comprises contacting the Group VIII metal-containing material with the acidic composition at a temperature of at least about 65 C.
14. The method of claim 11 wherein contacting the Group VIII metal-containing material with an acidic composition comprises immersing the substrate in the acidic composition.
15. The method of claim 11 wherein contacting the Group VIII metal-containing material with an acidic composition comprises spraying the substrate with the acidic composition.
16. The method of claim 1 wherein contacting the Group VIII metal-containing material with an acidic composition comprises:
positioning the Group VIII metal-containing surface of the substrate to interface with a polishing pad;
supplying an acidic composition in proximity to the interface; and
planarizing the substrate surface.
17. The method of claim 16 wherein the acidic composition comprises a plurality of abrasive particles.
18. The method of claim 16 wherein the polishing pad comprises a plurality of abrasive particles.
19. A method of removing Group VIII metal-containing material from a surface of a substrate, the method comprising contacting the Group VIII metal-containing material with an acidic composition comprising phosphoric acid initially in an amount of at least about 10 vol-% and no greater than about 25 vol-%, sulfuric acid initially in an amount of at least about 10 vol-% and no greater than about 50 vol-%, nitric acid initially in an amount of at least about 0.25 vol-% and no greater than about 10 vol-%, and hydrochloric acid initially in an amount of at least about 25 vol-% and no greater than about 50 vol-%.
20. The method of claim 19 wherein the substrate is a semiconductor substrate or substrate assembly.
21. The method of claim 19 wherein the Group VIII metal-containing surface comprises elemental platinum or a platinumrhodium alloy.
22. The method of claim 19 wherein contacting the Group VIII metal-containing material with an acidic composition comprises contacting the Group VIII metal-containing material with the acidic composition at a temperature of at least about 65 C.
23. The method of claim 19 wherein contacting the Group VIII metal-containing material with an acidic composition comprises immersing the substrate in the acidic composition.
24. The method of claim 19 wherein contacting the Group VIII metal-containing material with an acidic composition comprises spraying the substrate with the acidic composition.
25. The method of claim 19 wherein contacting the Group VIII metal-containing material with an acidic composition comprises:
positioning the Group VIII metal-containing surface of the substrate to interface with a polishing pad;
supplying an acidic composition in proximity to the interface; and
planarizing the substrate surface.
26. The method of claim 25 wherein the acidic composition comprises a plurality of abrasive particles.
27. The method of claim 25 wherein the polishing pad comprises a plurality of abrasive particles.
28. A method of removing platinum-rhodium alloy from a surface of a substrate, the method comprising contacting the platinum-rhodium alloy-containing material with an acidic composition comprising phosphoric acid initially in an amount of at least about 10 vol-% and no greater than about 25 vol-%, sulfuric acid initially in an amount of at least about 10 vol-% and no greater than about 50 vol-%, nitric acid initially in an amount of at least about 0.25 vol-% and no greater than about 1 vol-%, and hydrochloric acid initially in an amount of at least about 25 vol-% and no greater than about 50 vol-%.
29. An acidic composition for removing a Group VIII metal-containing material from a surface of a substrate, the composition comprising:
phosphoric acid initially in an amount of at least about 10 vol-% and no greater than about 25 vol-%;
sulfuric acid initially in an amount of at least about 10 vol-% and no greater than about 50 vol-%;
nitric acid initially in an amount of at least about 0.25 vol-% and no greater than about 10 vol-%; and
hydrochloric acid initially in an amount of at least about 25 vol-% and no greater than about 50 vol-%.
30. The acidic composition of claim 29 wherein nitric acid is initially present in an amount of at least about 0.25 vol-% and no greater than about 1 vol-%.

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 sigma-delta modulator (SDM), comprising:
an integrator for integrating an SDM error signal to provide an SDM output;
an overload protection circuit to detect an overload condition of said integrator, and, if an overload condition is detected, to apply a feedback signal to increase a reference voltage of said SDM to keep a residual error within predetermined limits; and
a circuit to digitally combine said feedback signal with the SDM output, whereby said SDM is kept out of the overload condition.
2. The SDM of claim 1 further comprising:
a first summing junction configured to receive a modulator input signal and a system feedback signal, and to generate a system error signal by combining the input signal and the system feedback signal;
an amplifier for providing an amplified system feedback signal to the first summing junction;
and wherein said overload protection circuit comprises:
an overload sensor circuit to monitor an output of one of said feedback loops for an overload condition; and
an overload feedback protection circuit to product a feedback signal to said first summing junction if an overload condition is detected by said overload sensor circuit, thereby increasing a reference voltage of said SDM.
3. A method for providing signal overload protection in a sigma-delta modulator (SDM) comprising:
integrating an SDM error signal to provide an SDM output;
detecting on overload condition of said integrator;
if an overload condition is detected applying a feedback signal to effectively increase a reference voltage of said SDM to keep a residual error within predetermined limits; and
digitally combining said feedback signal with the SDM output to keep said SDM out of the overload condition.
4. The method of claim 3 where said effectively increasing said reference voltage of said SDM comprises subtracting said feedback signal from an SDM input signal.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

1. A method of creating and searching a database of documents in a plurality of supported language, the method comprising the steps of:
using a keyword dictionary to extract keywords from each of the documents;
translating the keywords into the supported languages;
creating a listing of keywords for each of the documents in each supported language;
using the keywords in each supported language to create an inverted index of the documents including the keywords, and ranking factor information about the documents;
retrieving documents in any supported language by interrogating the inverted index with search terms in one supported language; and
ranking the documents using the ranking factor information of the documents contained in the inverted index.
2. A method including the steps of claim 1, wherein the step of using the keywords to create the inverted index includes the step of using the Unicode system to manage supported languages.
3. A method of searching a database including the steps of claim 1, wherein the step of generating an inquiry includes identifying the language in which it is presented.
4. A method of searching a database including documents written in more than one language, the steps of the method comprising:
creating a searching tool identifying keyword search terms on each document aligned with their keywords with a synonymous meaning in other supported languages;
identifying search documents using keyword search terms in any supported language to interrogate the searching tool using a search engine responsive to keyword search terms in to both the search language and other supported languages; and
providing a list of retrieved documents in multiple languages based on the search terms and their aligned synonyms.
5. The method of claim 4 including the step of converting the search results into another language.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further includes the step of providing an ordered list of documents based on ranking information in the search tool.
7. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of providing the search list of documents in a supported language selected by the searcher when the document exists in that language.
8. A system for searching a database of documents based on an input search, the system comprising:
a list of keywords which includes, for each of a plurality of documents in the database, keywords with synonymous meanings in at least a first and a second language;
an inverted index for the plurality of documents of the database including the keywords with synonymous meaning in the list; and
a search engine responsive to keywords in both the first and second languages, said search engine using the inverted index to obtain a set of results which include the documents which correspond to input keyword search terms in the first or input language and which includes documents which are in the second language.
9. A system of the type described in claim 8, wherein the list is a two-way list which is usable in converting a search term from a first language to a second language and from a second language to a first language.
10. A searching system of the type described in claim 8, wherein the converting of search terms uses the Unicode system for managing multiple languages.
11. A computer program on a computer usable medium for searching a database of documents based on an input search, the software comprising:
software for a list of keywords which includes, for each of a plurality of documents in the database, keywords with synonymous meanings in at least a first and a second language;
software for an inverted index for the plurality of documents of the database including the keywords with synonymous meaning in the list; and
software for a search engine responsive to keywords in both the first and second languages, said search engine using the inverted index to obtain a set of results which include the documents which correspond to input keyword search terms in the first or input language and which includes documents which are in the second language.
12. The computer program of the type described in claim 11, wherein the list is a two-way list which is usable in converting a search term from a first language to a second language and from a second language to a first language.
13. A computer program of the type described in claim 11, wherein the converting of search terms uses the Unicode system for managing multiple languages.

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

1-25. (canceled)
26. A printing system comprising:
a printhead for depositing droplets;
a platen configured to move a substrate along a non-straight path relative to the printhead, the printhead being positioned to deposit droplets of an image on the substrate as the substrate is moved along the non-straight path;
a key on the platen configured to store information;
an imaging system; and
a reader configured to read the information stored on the key and to send the information to the imaging system; wherein the imaging system is configured to format image data based on the non-straight path of the substrate, information stored on the key, or both, and to send instructions to the printhead to deposit droplets on the substrate based on the formatted image data.
27. The printing system of claim 26, wherein the imaging system is further configured to adjust the printing system based on information stored on the key.
28. The printing system of claim 27, wherein adjusting the printing system comprises adjusting a printhead stand-off distance between the printhead and the platen.
29. The printing system of claim 26, wherein the platen includes a cavity to hold the substrate.
30. The printing system of claim 26, wherein the key comprises a barcode.
31. The printing system of claim 26, wherein the key comprises an RFID tag.
32. The printing system of claim 26, wherein the information comprises set-up parameters for the printing system.
33. The printing system of claim 26, wherein the information comprises what type of substrate is supported by the platen.
34. The printing system of claim 26, wherein the platen is removable.
35. The printing system of claim 26, wherein the imaging system is configured to store a home position. which is a predetermined distance between the printhead and the platen.
36. The printing system of claim 26, wherein the platen is made of a moldable material that conforms to a shape of the substrate.
37. The printing system of claim 26, wherein the platen supports a plurality of substrates.
38. A printing system comprising:
a printhead for depositing droplets;
a plurality of platens coupled to a conveyor, the conveyor is configured to move along a straight path while the platens are configured to move along non-straight paths relative to the printhead, the printhead being positioned to deposit droplets of an image on a substrate supported by one of the platens as the substrate is moved along the non-straight path; and
an imaging system configured to format image data to account for the non-straight path of the substrate and to send instructions to the printhcad to deposit droplets on the substrate based on the formatted image data.
39. The printing system of claim 38, wherein the non-straight path of at least one of the platens comprises a circular path about an axis of rotation of the platen.
40. The printing system of claim 38, wherein the conveyor moves relative to the printhead in a single pass printing configuration.
41. A method of printing, comprising:
rotating a substrate on a platen about an axis in a circular motion for at least one revolution;
formatting image data to account for the circular motion of the substrate including applying an arc process; and
using a printhead to deposit droplets in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation to print an image on the substrate based on the formatted image data.
42. The method of claim 41, wherein formatting the image data further comprises separating the image data into cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
43. The method of claim 42, further comprising sending the formatted image data to the printhead.
44. The method of claim 40, wherein formatting the image data further comprises applying a gradient mask process.
45. The method of claim 40, further comprising sensing the substrate in the platen and causing the printhead to deposit droplets when the substrate is sensed.
46. The method of claim 40, further comprising reading information from a key on the platen and sending the information to the imaging system.
47. The method of claim 44, further comprising adjusting at least one of: the printhead, the platen, or the image data, based on the information read from the key.
48. The method of claim 40, wherein the image is comprised of dots and has a certain image resolution after one revolution, and the method further comprises increasing an image resolution by moving the printhead relative to the platen and printing dots in a space between the dots after the first revolution.