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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7853364 | Adaptive controller for ion source An ion source, often used for materials processing applications in a vacuum processing chamber, is provided with an adaptive control system. The adaptive control system has a microprocessor and memory that regulate the inputs of power and gas flow into the ion sourc... | 12/14/2010 |
| 7770231 | Fast-scanning SPM and method of operating same A method and apparatus are provided that have the capability of rapidly scanning a large sample of arbitrary characteristics under force control feedback so has to obtain a high resolution image. The method includes generating relative scanning movement between a pr... | 08/03/2010 |
| 7718983 | Sputtered contamination shielding for an ion source Shielding associated with an ion source, such as an anode layer source, reduces the amount and/or concentration of sputtered contaminants impinging and remaining on the surface of a target substrate. While passing the ion beam through to the target substrate, shield... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7691661 | Method of fabricating a surface probing device A method of making a probe having a cantilever and a tip include providing a substrate having a surface and forming a tip extending substantially orthogonally from the surface. The method includes depositing an etch stop layer on the substrate, whereby the etch stop... | 04/06/2010 |
| 7684956 | Image reconstruction method A method of extracting the shape of a probe tip of a probe-based instrument from data obtained by the instrument is provided. The method employs algorithms based on the principle that no reconstructed image points can physically occupy the same region as the tip dur... | 03/23/2010 |
| 7448798 | Scanning thermal probe microscope An apparatus and method of measuring a parameter associated with a sample is provided. The method includes providing a probe adapted to heat the sample and applying a measuring current having a frequency ω1 to the probe. In operation, the method measures... | 11/11/2008 |
| 7429732 | Scanning probe microscopy method and apparatus utilizing sample pitch The preferred embodiments are directed to a method and apparatus of operating a scanning probe microscope (SPM) to perform sample measurements using a survey scan that is less than five lines, and more preferably two lines, to accurately locate a field of features o... | 09/30/2008 |
| 7414355 | Charged particle beam extraction and formation apparatus A charged particle apparatus, with multiple electrically conducting semispheric grid electrodes, the grid electrodes mounted in a dielectric mounting ring, with hidden areas or regions to maintain electrical isolation between the grid electrodes as sputter deposits ... | 08/19/2008 |
| 7387035 | Method of making a force curve measurement on a sample A force scanning probe microscope (FSPM) and associated method of making force measurements on a sample includes a piezoelectric scanner having a surface that supports the sample so as to move the sample in three orthogonal directions. The FSPM also includes a displ... | 06/17/2008 |
| 6870164 | Pulsed operation of hall-current ion sources In accordance with one specific embodiment of the present invention, a Hall-current ion source is operated in a pulsed mode where the pulse duration is short compared to the time for discharge fluctuations to develop. For a reduced loss of neutral gas, the time betw... | 03/22/2005 |
| 6843891 | Apparatus for sputter deposition In one embodiment of this invention, the apparatus for sputter deposition within an evacuated volume comprises a compact gridless ion source into which an ionizable gas is introduced and from which ions leave with directed energies at or near the sputtering threshol... | 01/18/2005 |
| 6774550 | Charged particle beam extraction and formation apparatus A charged particle apparatus, with multiple electrically conducting semispheric grid electrodes, the grid electrodes mounted in a dielectric mounting ring, with hidden areas or regions to maintain electrical isolation between the grid electrodes as sputter deposits ... | 08/10/2004 |
| 6720551 | Flexure assembly for a scanner A flexure carriage assembly (24) has a carriage (25) formed of a substantially rigid material. The carriage has four elongate columns (32A, 32B, 32C, 32D) arranged spaced apart and parallel to one another. Each of the elonga... | 04/13/2004 |
| 6612160 | Apparatus and method for isolating and measuring movement in metrology apparatus An improved metrology apparatus, such as a scanning probe microscope (SPM), has an actuator that controls motion in three orthogonal directions when it is selectively and electrically stimulated. The X-Y section of the actuator, preferably a piezoelectric... | 09/02/2003 |
| 6590208 | Balanced momentum probe holder A balanced momentum probe holder in an apparatus for characterizing a sample surface has first and second members each having extensible and retractable distal ends. The distal ends extend or retract substantially simultaneously in response to a signal fr... | 07/08/2003 |
| 6590324 | Charged particle beam extraction and formation apparatus A charged particle apparatus, with multiple electrically conducting semispheric grid electrodes, the grid electrodes mounted in a dielectric mounting ring, with hidden areas or regions to maintain electrical isolation between the grid electrodes as sputte... | 07/08/2003 |
| 6537428 | Stable high rate reactive sputtering A method and apparatus for monitoring and controlling reactive sputter deposition, particularly useful for depositing insulating compounds (e.g., metal-oxides, metal-nitrides, etc.). For a given nominal cathode power level, target material, and source gas... | 03/25/2003 |
| 6530268 | Apparatus and method for isolating and measuring movement in a metrology apparatus An metrology apparatus includes an actuator with a first actuator stage to controllably move in first and second orthogonal directions, and a second actuator stage adjacent to the first actuator stage to controllably move in a third direction orthogonal t... | 03/11/2003 |
| 6464891 | Method for repetitive ion beam processing with a carbon containing ion beam A method is provided for a repetitive deposition and etch of a substrate using a carbon containing ion beam in a gridded ion source. The method includes the actual ion beam processing step combined with the thermal and chemical conditioning of the ion sou... | 10/15/2002 |
| 6447839 | Method of depositing multilayer thin films This invention is directed to methods for depositing multilayered thin films onto substrates, for example in making thin film magnetic heads. In accordance with the invention a first film, such as Cr, is deposited onto the substrate at a first pressure an... | 09/10/2002 |
| 6427345 | Method and apparatus for a line based, two-dimensional characterization of a three-dimensional surface Surface characteristics of a surface of a three-dimensional object, such as surface area, surface area enhancement (i.e., the ratio of the actual surface area to an area of that surface projected onto an X-Y plane), and surface roughness parameters can be... | 08/06/2002 |
| 6395146 | Sputtering assembly and target therefor A cathode assembly includes a monolithic target having a first surface and a center region. In addition, a sculpted section is formed in the first surface, and the sculpted section is generally recessed from the first surface and extends around the center... | 05/28/2002 |
| 6389886 | Method and system for increasing the accuracy of a probe-based instrument measuring a heated sample A method of operating a probe-based instrument comprises placing a probe of the probe-based instrument in an operative state in which the probe interacts with a heated sample, measuring a parameter of probe operation indicative of a characteristic of the ... | 05/21/2002 |
| 6353221 | Method and apparatus for cleaning a tip of a probe of a probe-based measuring instrument A high degree of measurement reproducibility is assured for the life of the tip of a probe-based instrument such as an atomic force microscope (AFM) by periodically operating the instrument in a tip cleaning mode to remove contaminants from the tip. The i... | 03/05/2002 |
| 6323483 | High bandwidth recoiless microactuator The bandwidth of a microactuator for a surface modification instrument or a surface measurement instrument is improved by inertially-balancing the microactuator to prevent the transfer of any net forces from the microactuator to its support structure by c... | 11/27/2001 |
| 6314212 | High precision optical metrology using frequency domain interpolation The present invention provides a method and apparatus for high precision image metrology. A feature dimension from the image is determined by measuring corresponding features in the Fourier power spectrum of the image with substantially improved precision... | 11/06/2001 |
| 6299740 | Sputtering assembly and target therefor A cathode assembly includes a monolithic target having a first surface and a center region. In addition, a sculpted section is formed in the first surface, and the sculpted section is generally recessed from the first surface and extends around the center... | 10/09/2001 |
| 6287880 | Method and apparatus for high resolution profiling in semiconductor structures A method for determining the characteristics of a doped semiconductor substrate is disclosed, wherein a scanning probe microscope, preferably an atomic force microscope, is used to move a probe across a sample surface gathering electrical measurements at ... | 09/11/2001 |
| 6280939 | Method and apparatus for DNA sequencing using a local sensitive force detector DNA sequencing is performed in real time using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The AFM's probe detects motions that occur when a polymerase incorporates nucleotides into a growing polynucleotide chain and a newly formed double-stranded polynucleotide he... | 08/28/2001 |
| 6246052 | Flexure assembly for a scanner A flexure carriage assembly has a carriage formed of a substantially rigid material. The carriage has four elongate columns arranged spaced apart and parallel to one another. Each of the elongate columns has first and second ends. The flexure carriage has... | 06/12/2001 |
| 6241005 | Thermal interface member The invention concerns a self-contained temperature transfer interface, used in processing wafers under high temperature and vacuum conditions, for transferring temperature between a substrate and a temperature control seat. The temperature transfer inter... | 06/05/2001 |
| 6238582 | Reactive ion beam etching method and a thin film head fabricated using the method A reactive ion beam etching method which employs an oxidizing agent in a plasma contained in an ion source to control carbonaceous deposit (e.g., polymer) formation within the ion source and on the substrate. During operation of an ion source, after opera... | 05/29/2001 |
| 6225747 | Charged-particle source, control system and process using gating to extract the charged particle beam A control system and process for operating a charged-particle source which achieves gating of the charged-particle beam without a mechanical shutter and with very short transition between the beam "on" and beam "off" states is presented. The process and c... | 05/01/2001 |
| 6224718 | Target assembly for ion beam sputter deposition with multiple paddles each having targets on both sides An ion beam sputtering target assembly has six sputter targets arranged in pairs on three paddles and disposed upon the circumference of a circular holder. The circular holder can be rotated about its axis in such a way as to bring any one of the target p... | 05/01/2001 |
| 6185992 | Method and system for increasing the accuracy of a probe-based instrument measuring a heated sample A method of operating a probe-based instrument comprises placing a probe of the probe-based instrument in an operative state in which the probe interacts with a heated sample, measuring a parameter of probe operation indicative of a characteristic of the ... | 02/13/2001 |
| 6172506 | Capacitance atomic force microscopes and methods of operating such microscopes A surface of the sample is scanned in intermittent contact mode with an the AFM. The probe tip is electrically conductive and is electrically connected to a capacitance sensing circuit. The oscillation of the AFM probe modulates capacitance between probe ... | 01/09/2001 |
| 5969470 | Charged particle source A charged particle source applicable for etching, thin film deposition, or surface modification includes a conductive electrode for controlling the plasma potential and beam voltage, the electrode retaining long term conductivity during operation, such as... | 10/19/1999 |
| 4184188 | Substrate clamping technique in IC fabrication processes An electrostatic clamping technique for use in clamping substrates in various semiconductor fabrication processes is disclosed. One example takes the form of a substrate support plate which has deposited on its working face two layers of thermally conduct... | 01/15/1980 |
