A thin-film electronic component includes a first terminal, a second terminal, and a first current path between the first terminal and the second terminal, wherein the first current path is formed from a first segment of a first material and a first segment of a second material arranged in series between the first terminal and the second terminal.

A heating plate includes: a pair of glass plates; a conductive pattern disposed between the pair of glass plates and defining a plurality of opening areas; and a joint layer disposed between the conductive pattern and at least one of the pair of glass plates; wherein the conductive pattern includes a plurality of connection elements that extend between two branch points to define the opening areas; and a rate of the connection elements, which are straight line segments connecting the two branch points, relative to the plurality of connection elements, is less than 20%.

A heating plate includes: a pair of glass plates; a conductive pattern disposed between the pair of glass plates and defining a plurality of opening areas; and a joint layer disposed between the conductive pattern and at least one of the pair of glass plates; wherein the conductive pattern includes a plurality of connection elements that extend between two branch points to define the opening areas; and a rate of the connection elements, which are straight line segments connecting the two branch points, relative to the plurality of connection elements, is less than 20%.

The present invention discloses a method for manufacturing a high-sensitivity piezoresistive sensor using a multi-level structure design, including the following steps: forming first-level basic geometrical units formed of basic structural units on a substrate, where each first-level basic geometrical unit is a two-dimensional or three-dimensional network structure formed by stacking several basic structural units; stacking and combining several first-level basic geometrical units in an array to form a second-level geometrical structure, and forming a contact connection area located between adjacent first-level basic geometrical units; and dispensing a conductive adhesive in at least two positions on the substrate to form electrodes of a piezoresistive sensor, so as to obtain the piezoresistive sensor. A high-sensitivity piezoresistive sensor obtained by using the method of the present invention has flexible design and simple fabrication, can be desirably combined with various existing sensor fabrication methods, and has general applicability.

A heating element for a cooking appliance includes terminals that act as electrically conductive contact points. One or more buses are arranged between the terminals, and connect one or more heating element segments in a zig-zag configuration. The heating element segments are connected in series and are arranged parallel with one another. Each heating element segment includes a plurality of cutouts linked together and having an elliptical shape. The terminals, heating element segments, and buses are a continuous single sheet of conductive material. A method of making the heating element includes forming a pattern into the sheet of conductive material by etching the pattern into the conductive sheet using photolithography.

The invention discloses a thin film transistor, a display panel and a method of fabricating the thin film transistor. The thin film transistor includes a substrate, a gate layer, a dielectric layer, an active layer, and a source/drain layer which are stacked in sequence from bottom to top; and a plurality of reinforcing portions are disposed on an upper surface of the gate layer, wherein the reinforcing portions are configured to increase an area of the upper surface of the gate layer, so as to increase an effective abutting area between the gate layer and the active layer, and reduce a width and a length of the thin film transistor, and reduce a parasitic capacitance of the thin film transistor.

A method is provided for forming a thin film resistor (TFR) in an integrated circuit (IC) device. A TFR film is formed and annealed over an IC structure including IC elements and IC element contacts. At least one TFR cap layer is formed, and a TFR etch defines a TFR element from the TFR film. A TFR contact etch forms TFR contact openings over the TFR element, and a metal layer is formed over the IC structure and extending into the TFR contact openings to form metal contacts to the IC element contacts and the TFR element. The TFR cap layer(s), e.g., SiN cap and/or oxide cap formed over the TFR film, may (a) provide an etch stop during the TFR contact etch and/or (b) provide a hardmask during the TFR etch, which may eliminate the use of a photomask and thereby eliminate post-etch removal of photomask polymer.

The present invention discloses a method for manufacturing a high-sensitivity piezoresistive sensor using a multi-level structure design, including the following steps: forming first-level basic geometrical units formed of basic structural units on a substrate, where each first-level basic geometrical unit is a two-dimensional or three-dimensional network structure formed by stacking several basic structural units; stacking and combining several first-level basic geometrical units in an array to form a second-level geometrical structure, and forming a contact connection area located between adjacent first-level basic geometrical units; and dispensing a conductive adhesive in at least two positions on the substrate to form electrodes of a piezoresistive sensor, so as to obtain the piezoresistive sensor. A high-sensitivity piezoresistive sensor obtained by using the method of the present invention has flexible design and simple fabrication, can be desirably combined with various existing sensor fabrication methods, and has general applicability.

A heating element for a cooking appliance includes terminals that act as electrically conductive contact points. One or more buses are arranged between the terminals, and connect one or more heating element segments in a zig-zag configuration. The heating element segments are connected in series and are arranged parallel with one another. Each heating element segment includes a plurality of cutouts linked together and having an elliptical shape. The terminals, heating element segments, and buses are a continuous single sheet of conductive material. A method of making the heating element includes forming a pattern into the sheet of conductive material by etching the pattern into the conductive sheet using photolithography.

A heating plate 10 includes: a pair of glass plates 11, 12; a conductive pattern 40, 70 disposed between the pair of glass plates 11, 12 and defining a plurality of opening areas 43, 73; and a joint layer 13, 14 disposed between the conductive pattern 40, 70 and at least one of the pair of glass plates 11, 12; wherein the conductive pattern 40, 70 includes a plurality of connection elements 44, 74 that extend between two branch points 42, 72 to define the opening areas 43, 73; and a total value of lengths of straight line segments connecting the two branch points 42, 72 is less than 20% of a total value of the plurality of connection elements 44, 74.