Did You Know...
...that the video game, Pong, was invented by a guy who graduated at the bottom of his engineering class? Nolan Bushnell spent more time running the games at a local amusement park than he did on his studies at the University of Utah. His dreams of working for Disney's amusement empire were dashed when the company wouldn't hire him. Taking a boring job, Nolan daydreamed about electronic versions of popular games. He invented Pong, the first video game, and went on to found Atari Co.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8182328 | Method of lottery wagering on real-world events A method for lottery wagering on real-world events. One method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes selecting a set of variables, each variable representing a time-varying value capable of having a fixed value at a specified time. For each va... | 05/22/2012 |
| D659394 | Personal item organizer | 05/15/2012 |
| 8170832 | Measurement and endpointing of sample thickness A method for Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) sample creation. The use of a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)—Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) detector in the dual-beam focused ion beam (FIB)/SEM allows a sample to be thinned using the FIB, ... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8170255 | Enclosure for acoustic insulation of an apparatus contained within said enclosure An enclosure with a substantial rectangular configuration, adapted to contain an apparatus sensitive to acoustic vibrations, the enclosure comprising walls and acoustic damping material located within the wall, wherein the acoustic damping material comprises at leas... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8168961 | Charged particle beam masking for laser ablation micromachining An improved method for substrate micromachining. Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide improved methods for the utilization of charged particle beam masking and laser ablation. A combination of the advantages of charged particle beam mask fabricatio... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8168948 | Method of machining a work piece with a focused particle beam The invention relates to a method for producing high-quality samples for e.g. TEM inspection. When thinning samples with e.g. a Focused Ion Beam apparatus (FIB), the sample often oxidizes when taken from the FIB due to the exposure to air. This results in low-qualit... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8164059 | In-chamber electron detector A secondary particle detector 302 for a charged particle beam system 300 includes a scintillator 304 and a transducer 312, such as a photomultiplier tube, positioned within a vacuum chamber 107. Unlike prior art Everhart-Thornley d... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8163641 | System for modifying small structures A charge transfer mechanism is used to locally deposit or remove material for a small structure. A local electrochemical cell is created without having to immerse the entire work piece in a bath. The charge transfer mechanism can be used together with a charged part... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8163145 | Method and apparatus for controlling topographical variation on a milled cross-section of a structure An improved method of controlling topographical variations when milling a cross-section of a structure, which can be used to reduce topographical variation on a cross-section of a write-head in order to improve the accuracy of metrology applications. Topographical v... | 04/24/2012 |
| D657474 | Sample carrier | 04/10/2012 |
| D657178 | Comforter with pouch | 04/10/2012 |
| 8150615 | Apparatus for monitoring fluid levels in a remotely located storage tank An improved system for delivering propane or other consumable liquid to remotely located storage tanks including a novel combination of remote monitoring of customer tanks and an improved method of using the remote monitoring data to optimally schedule deliveries, i... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8149160 | Method and apparatus using non-contact measuring device to determine rail distance traveled A non-contact, distance traveled measurement system (DTMS) to calculate speed and distance traveled by a vehicle over rails—more specifically, by trains traveling on standard railroad tracks. Preferably, a pair of short range (near field) microwave-based transmitt... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8134124 | Method for creating S/tem sample and sample structure An improved method and apparatus for S/TEM sample preparation and analysis. Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide improved methods for TEM sample creation, especially for small geometry ( | 03/13/2012 |
| D655121 | Drinking straw with sleeve | 03/06/2012 |
| 8124942 | Plasma igniter for an inductively coupled plasma ion source A focused ion beam (FIB) system is disclosed, comprising an inductively coupled plasma ion source, an insulating plasma chamber containing the plasma, a conducting source biasing electrode in contact with the plasma and biased to a high voltage to control the ion be... | 02/28/2012 |
| 8119985 | Methods and apparatus for statistical characterization of nano-particles A method and apparatus for determining statistical characteristics of nano-particles includes distributing the nano-particles over a surface and then determining properties of the nano-particles by automatic measurement of multiple particles or by a measurement that... | 02/21/2012 |
| 8117970 | Overhead storage system An overhead storage system includes support beams forming a frame to a deck around its perimeter and four corner vertical mounts for suspending the deck from a ceiling. The frame is preferably made of Z-shaped beams supported by vertical L-shaped corner supports to ... | 02/21/2012 |
| 8113236 | System and method for delivering chemicals Systems and method for delivering materials to a tool are disclosed. A material delivery system utilizes two or more sources of the material to be delivered to the tool. One or more of the sources of the tool may be a batch mixer. The material delivery system also i... | 02/14/2012 |
| 8101928 | Deflection signal compensation for charged particle beam Charged particles that are in transit through a deflection system when the beam is repositioned do not received the correct deflection force and are misdirected. By independently applying signals to the multiple stages of a deflection system, the number of misdirect... | 01/24/2012 |
| 8097308 | Protective layer for charged particle beam processing A protective layer is applied to a work piece to protect the surface during charged particle beam processing by directing a fluid toward the surface. The surface is preferably not touched by the applicator. Ink jet print-type print heads are suitable applicators. In... | 01/17/2012 |
| 8095231 | Graphical automated machine control and metrology A graphical programming system allows a user to place geometric shapes onto a scaled image, the shape having associated behavior that operates on the image or on the object of which the image is formed. In a preferred embodiment, the shapes are objects in the Visio ... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8093558 | Environmental cell for a particle-optical apparatus The invention relates to an environmental cell for use in e.g. an electron microscope. The environmental cell shows an aperture (15) for passing the beam produced by the electron microscope to a sample (6) placed inside the environmental cell. The envi... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8092128 | Self-sealing fasteners A fastener suitable for use in airplane manufacture or repair that is coated with a pre-mixed moisture cure sealant. The sealant layer is coated with a frangible moisture barrier that will break apart when the fastener is installed, thus exposing the sealant to atmo... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8087379 | Localized plasma processing A method of localized plasma processing improves processing speed and reduces work piece damage compared to charged particle beam deposition and etching. In one embodiment, a plasma jet exits a plasma generating chamber and activates a reactive gas. A jet of plasma ... | 01/03/2012 |
| 8080791 | X-ray detector for electron microscope Multiple detectors arranged in a ring within a specimen chamber provide a large solid angle of collection. The detectors preferably include a shutter and a cold shield that reduce ice formation on the detector. By providing detectors surrounding the sample, a large ... | 12/20/2011 |
| 8076650 | Multi-source plasma focused ion beam system The present invention provides a plasma ion beam system that includes multiple gas sources and that can be used for performing multiple operations using different ion species to create or alter submicron features of a work piece. The system preferably uses an induct... | 12/13/2011 |
| 8071954 | Hybrid phase plate The invention relates to a hybrid phase plate for use in a TEM. The phase plate according to the invention resembles a Boersch phase plate in which a Zernike phase plate is mounted. As a result the phase plate according to the invention resembles a Boersch phase pla... | 12/06/2011 |
| 8065762 | Hammock arch A hammock support is provided that includes an arched structure supported by tripod leg supports. The arched support is preferably a truss structure that provides multiple attachment points to support a hammock bed for varying the types, lengths, and heights of hamm... | 11/29/2011 |
| 8059918 | High accuracy beam placement for local area navigation An improved method of high accuracy beam placement for local area navigation in the field of semiconductor chip manufacturing. This invention demonstrates a method where high accuracy navigation to the site of interest within a relatively large local area (e.g. an a... | 11/15/2011 |
| D648912 | Bag holder | 11/15/2011 |
| 8053725 | Beam quality in FIB systems Applicants have found that the asymmetrical energy distribution of ions from an ion source allow chromatic aberration to be reduced by filtering ions in the low energy beam tail without significantly reducing processing time. A preferred embodiment includes within a... | 11/08/2011 |
| 8021058 | Fabrication of optical devices and assemblies A method of forming a waveguide or an optical assembly includes molding a waveguide material, optionally in alignment with one or more optical components. The one or more optical components are aligned in a precision mold that is also used to form the waveguide. A c... | 09/20/2011 |
| 8013311 | Dual beam system A dual beam system includes an ion beam system and a scanning electron microscope with a magnetic objective lens. The ion beam system is adapted to operate optimally in the presence of the magnetic field from the SEM objective lens, so that the objective lens is not... | 09/06/2011 |
| 8011259 | Sample carrier comprising a deformable strip of material folded back upon itself and sample holder The invention relates to a composite structure of a sample carrier 20 and a sample holder 30 for use in a TEM, for example. The sample carrier is hereby separately embodied from the sample holder. Although such compositions are already known, the known... | 09/06/2011 |
| 8005875 | Automatic data transmission in response to content of electronic forms satisfying criteria Automatic transmission of information is generated when the content of a posted electronic form matches a predefined criteria. An interface allows the user to create a criterion template to specify the match criterion without requiring the user to have the skills of... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7999225 | Charged particle source with integrated energy filter The invention describes a particle source in which energy selection occurs. The energy selection occurs by sending a beam of electrically charged particles 103 eccentrically through a lens 107. As a result of this, energy dispersion will occur in an im... | 08/16/2011 |
| 7989778 | Charged-particle optical system with dual loading options A charged-particle optical system (100) such as an electron microscope has a vacuum chamber (102) with a space (104) for accommodating a specific one (114) of multiple specimens in operational use. The charged-particle optical system has ... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7987072 | Defect analyzer The present invention provides methods, devices, and systems for analyzing defects in an object such as a semiconductor wafer. In one embodiment, it provides a method of characterizing defects in semiconductor wafers during fabrication in a semiconductor fabrication... | 07/26/2011 |
| 7979217 | Method and system for spectroscopic data analysis A method of analyzing spectroscopic data, the method comprising collecting spatially resolved measurement spectroscopic data of a sample for a series of measurements spots, assigning the measurement spots into a predefined set of spectral categories, based on charac... | 07/12/2011 |
