1,199,075. Fluid-flow meters, electrical. NORTH AMERICAN ROCKWELL CORP. July 31, 1967 [July 29, 1966], No.35150/67. Heading G1N. A flowmeter for insertion in a fluid-flow line comprises semi-conductor strips 19, 29 (Fig.1) having Piezo-resistive semi-conductor strain gauges 20, 30 formed thereon by bonding, planar diffusion, or epitaxial growth. The strips may be N-type while the strain gauges are P-type or vice-versa. Each gauge is formed on a face of a respective strip so that deflection of the strips by a flowing fluid produces tensile stress in one gauge and compressive stress on the other. Where the strips cross one another a bead of epoxy resin is provided therebetween as insulation and to prevent relative movement of the strips. The gauges may be connected in a Wheatstone bridge Fig.3 (not shown). The output voltage of which is proportional to the product of the fluid density, the fluid velocity squared, and a calibration constant; and is connected to a meter which indicates flow-rate. The semi-conductor material of the strips or gauges may be silicon, germanium or carbon or other tetravalent element doped with arsenic, antimony, bismuth or phosporous to give N-type or with impurity such as aluminium indium, gallium, or boron to give P-type. Alternatively the semi-conductor strips may not be doped with impurity.

A device for generating and utilizing voltage pulses for determining the revolutions per minute of a rotating shaft or the number of complete cycles per minute performed by a reciprocating or oscillating shaft, having a solid state radiation source, a semi-conductor element sensitive to the radiation and an opaque member having an aperture therein to permit radiation to reach the element for generating a voltage pulse, the opaque element being driven in synchromism with the rotating, reciprocating or oscillating shaft, whereby by fast switching and electronic summation of the voltage pulses the revolutions or cycles can be counted.

1,189,225. Measuring movement. LABORATOIRE CENTRAL DES INDUSTRIES ELECTRIQUES. July 4, 1967 [July 4, 1966], No.30822/67. Heading G1A. Small movements are detected or measured by a device comprising a photo-conductive and Piezo-electric solid, or thin film semi-conductor crystal, a light-source for illuminating at least one face of the crystal, electrical contacts on either side of the one face or faces, and means for varying in accordance with the movement the area of the face or faces illuminated whereby the frequency of oscillation in the output circuit of the crystal is varied. The crystal which may be a cadmium sulphide mono-crystal and parallel to the hexagonal axis is made to oscillate by the application of a stabilized D. C. voltage and changes of frequency arising from changes of area are detected to indicate the movement of a mask between the source and the crystal. White or green light may be used and intensities are specified. The green light or light of a shorter wavelength may be produced by an electro-luminescent diode. A load resistor is included in series with the crystal, and the end of the crystal connected to the negative terminal may be shaped to concentrate the electrical field and thus facilitate the commencement of oscillation. Practical embodiments in which the light source and the crystal are mounted in an evacuated and temperature controlled chamber are described. The application of the invention to seismographic measurements is referred to. The crystal may be mounted in a beryllium oxide substrate and the contacts may be formed of successive films of indium and of indium/gallium eutectic.

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To quickly perform failure countermeasures when performing inspection or failure analysis of a manufacturing process of a semiconductor wafer or a thin film substrate. SOLUTION: In this foreign matter or defect inspecting device inspecting by an optical system the size of the foreign matter or defect is associated with a failure cause in its result, the failure cause is designated by a data processing means from statistics of results of inspections, and result information of the inspections is displayed. Thresholds of failures per areas in the semiconductor wafer or the like are set and foreign matter is statistically evaluated for performing the failure analysis.

937,456. Semi-conductor devices. GENERAL MILLS Inc. Dec. 8, 1959 [Dec 8, 1958] No. 41736/59. Class-37. [Also in Group XL (b)] A photosensor device for use in measuring light intensity comprises a grain boundary between two differently orientated single crystals. The boundary is equivalent to a series of edge dislocations which trap electrons and holes in N and P-type materials, respectively, so that the boundary attains a net negative or positive charge. If a voltage pulse of either polarity is applied between soldered contacts on the two crystals the boundary charges up to the pulse voltage and a space charge layer forms on both sides of the boundary. On removing the pulse the charge remains so that on application of a further pulse of the same magnitude only a small capacitive current pulse flows into the device which flows out again on removal of the pulse. If, prior to the second pulse, some of the charge is released from the boundary by photon bombardment the pulse restores the original boundary charge and charges up the associated capacitance. The charging current therefore is a measure of the total number of photons incident on the device between the pulses provided this is insufficient to completely discharge the boundary. Circuit arrangements for measuring the charging current and thus the light intensity are described (see Group XL (b)). Since the capacity of the device is proportional to the reciprocal of the square root of the barrier voltage the integrated light intensity may alternatively be measured continuously in terms of the charge of capacitance of the device between pulses (see also Group XL (b)). To facilitate use in such circuits as indium contact is provided to the edge of the grain boundary. Silicon is suitable for use in photosensors operated at room temperature, germanium for use at liquid nitrogen temperatures and indium antimonide at lower temperatures. The use of other A III By compounds and silicon carbide is also contemplated. A matrix 86 of 25 cells (Fig. 8) is formed from a plate 94 of semi-conductor material with a grain boundary 88 between its faces by cutting perpendicular sets 90, 92 of parallel grooves through the grain boundary from opposite sides of the plate.

PURPOSE:To clearly measure the recording state of a vertical magnetic recording medium by using a cantilever consisting of a probe and a leaf spring where a hard magnetic thin film is formed at the tip as the cantilever for magnetic force microscope. CONSTITUTION:A stainless steel foil 1 is machined in the shape of a leaf spring 2 and then a probe 3 is adhered to the tip of the leaf spring 2. In the probe 3, iron/cobalt alloy thin film 5 is formed on the surface of an iron probe 4 which is machined in needle shape by performing electrolytic polishing of iron wire by the electrolytic plating method. The iron/cobalt alloy is a hard magnetic material and has a large coercive force so that the direction of magnetization of the probe 3 is constantly maintained to be fixed and attraction and repulsion operate according to sample magnetization direction for the probe 3 when the sample 3 is brought closer to the sample surface and scans the sample surface in parallel. When the probe 3 is moved slightly up and down by a piezoelectric element and scans the sample surface in parallel in this state, the probe 3 is controlled in upper position when the magnetization is in the same direction. On the other hand, when the magnetization is in opposite direction, the probe 3 is controlled in lower position. It is changed into an image, thus measuring the magnetization distribution of the sample.

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a light or radiation detecting device which reduces discharging due to a bias voltage applied to a light or radiation sensitive film. SOLUTION: A semiconductor thick film 1 in an external region A is formed of a polycrystalline semiconductor thick film 1A and a semiconductor thick film 1 in an internal area B is formed of an amorphous semiconductor thick film 1B, so the discharging caused by the bias voltage can be suppressed, so that such malfunction that a detection signal is detected even when no radiation is made incident hardly occurs. Further, the discharging is caused at the peripheral edge part of a voltage application electrode 3, so a device regarding this invention can easily be formed only by forming the polycrystalline semiconductor thick film 1A in the external region A.

An acceleration or vibration sensing device comprises a support structure for fixing to the body 1 the acceleration or vibrations of which it is desired to measure, and including a substrate 2 which is resiliently deformable through the effect of an acceleration of the body, at least one thick-film resistor 3 being applied to the substrate so that, in use, it undergoes deformations univocally corresponding to the deformations of the substrate, and circuit means (e.g. a bridge circuit) connected to the at least one resistor and arranged to output electrical signals indicative of the variations in its resistance. The substrate may be mounted in an air-tight or liquid-tight casing. A mass M1 may be fixed to the substrate.