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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8187434 | Method and system for large scale manufacture of thin film photovoltaic devices using single-chamber configuration A system for large scale manufacture of thin film photovoltaic cells. The system includes a chamber comprising a plurality of compartments in a common vacuum ambient therein. Additionally, the system includes one or more shutter screens removably separating each of ... | 05/29/2012 |
| 7815782 | PVD target A physical vapor deposition target assembly is configured to isolate a target-bonding layer from a processing region. In one embodiment, the target assembly comprises a backing plate, a target having a first surface and a second surface, and a bonding layer disposed... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7670469 | Methods and apparatus for making integrated-circuit wiring from copper, silver, gold, and other metals In recent years, copper wiring has emerged as a promising substitute for the aluminum wiring in integrated circuits, because copper offers lower electrical resistance and better reliability at smaller dimensions than aluminum. However, use of copper typically requir... | 03/02/2010 |
| 7347919 | Sputter source, sputtering device, and sputtering method According to the invention, when targets are sputtered, each of them moves with respect to a substrate; and therefore, the entire area of the substrate is opposed to the targets during sputtering, so that a film of homogeneous quality can be formed on the surface of... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7294404 | Graded photocatalytic coatings The invention provides graded photocatalytic coatings. In one aspect, the invention provides a substrate carrying a photocatalytic coating that includes a first graded film region and a second graded film region. The first graded film region has a substantially cont... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7293950 | Universal modular wafer transport system The present invention is a wafer transfer system that transports individual wafers between chambers within an isolated environment. In one embodiment, a wafer is transported by a wafer shuttle that travel within a transport enclosure. The interior of the transport e... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7285196 | Methods and apparatus for making integrated-circuit wiring from copper, silver, gold, and other metals In recent years, copper wiring has emerged as a promising substitute for the aluminum wiring in integrated circuits, because copper offers lower electrical resistance and better reliability at smaller dimensions than aluminum. However, use of copper typically requir... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7285916 | Multi chamber plasma process system A multi-chamber plasma process system includes a plurality of process chambers, each of which has an inductively coupled plasma generator. The inductively coupled plasma generator is electrically connected to a main power supply through a first impedance matcher. Th... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7279201 | Methods and apparatus for forming precursors This invention relates to a method of forming a precursor for chemical vapour deposition including the steps of: (a) forming metal ions at a source, (b) introducing the ions into a reaction chamber; and (c) exposing the ions to a gas or gasses within the chamber to ... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7264485 | Power connectors and contacts The present invention relates to electrical connectors, and, in particular, to power connectors and to improved contact structures and methods related thereto. ... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7264741 | Coater having substrate cleaning device and coating deposition methods employing such coater A coater having a substrate cleaning device is disclosed. Also disclosed are methods of processing substrates in a coater equipped with a substrate cleaning device. The substrate cleaning device comprises an ion gun (i.e., an ion source) that is positioned beneath a... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7250330 | Method of making an electronic package A method of making an electronic package is described, wherein a substrate is provided with a pattern of conductive pads and a portion of solder positioned on selected ones of the pattern of copper pads. The solder is then reflowed to form partial hemispherically sh... | 07/31/2007 |
| 7235160 | Hollow cathode sputtering apparatus and related method The present invention provides an improved hollow cathode method for sputter coating a substrate. The method of the invention comprises providing a channel for gas to flow through, the channel defined by a channel defining surface wherein one or more portions of the... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7198699 | Sputter coating apparatus including ion beam source(s), and corresponding method A coating apparatus deposits a first coating (single or multi-layered) onto a first side of a substrate (e.g., glass substrate) passing through the apparatus, and a second coating (single or multi-layered) onto the other or second side of the substrate. In certain e... | 04/03/2007 |
| 7189437 | Mobile plating system and method An exemplary method for using a mobile plating system is provided that includes locating the mobile plating system at a desired location for plating, positioning an external vacuum pump from an interior position of a mobile storage volume of the mobile plasma platin... | 03/13/2007 |
| 7183674 | Hermetically sealed elements of an actuator An actuator for positioning of an optical element, such as a mirror, in an optic system that operates under vacuum conditions is provided and includes a first actuator body including a first actuator element that is hermetically sealed in the first actuator body and... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7175887 | Method of coating a fluorocarbon resin A first member is configured to undergo sliding contact with a surface of a second member. The surface of the first member is roughened by irradiating the surface of the first member with a laser to form first recesses in the surface of the first member. The surface... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7156961 | Sputtering apparatus and film forming method The present invention is to provide a sputtering apparatus and a thin film formation method which make it possible to form respective layers of a multilayer film having a clean interface at a optimum temperature, or which make it possible to continuously carry out t... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7153367 | Drive mechanism for a vacuum treatment apparatus The invention relates to a drive mechanism for a vacuum treatment apparatus by which substrate holders can be transported around an axis (A—A) from an entrance airlock to an exit airlock. A stationary supporting column (1) is disposed in the center and on i... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7153399 | Method and apparatus for producing uniform isotropic stresses in a sputtered film The invention provides a method and apparatus for producing uniform, isotropic stresses in a sputtered film. In the presently preferred embodiment, a new sputtering geometry and a new domain of transport speed are presented, which together allow the achievement of t... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7141145 | Gas injection for uniform composition reactively sputter-deposited thin films A method of forming a thin film on a substrate/workpiece by sputtering, comprising steps of: (a) providing an apparatus comprising a vacuum chamber including at least one sputtering source and a gas supply means for injecting a gas... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7135097 | Box-shaped facing-targets sputtering apparatus and method for producing compound thin film Disclosed is a box-shaped facing-targets sputtering apparatus capable of forming, at low temperature, a compound thin film of high quality while causing minimal damage to an underlying layer. The box-shaped facing-targets sputtering apparatus includes a box-shaped f... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7090754 | Sputtering device An object of the invention is to provide a method of sputtering and a device for sputtering which can improve distribution of a film's thickness and coverage distribution improve. The device for sputtering includes at least a substrate, a substrate holder which hold... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7063984 | Low temperature deposition of complex metal oxides (CMO) memory materials for non-volatile memory integrated circuits A memory fabrication apparatus includes a pair of targets arranged so as to be spaced apart from one another within a closed vacuum vessel, each target of said pair of targets having a sputtering surface facing the sputtering surface of the other target of said pair... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7041202 | Timing apparatus and method to selectively bias during sputtering A system and method for sputtering using a plurality of different bias voltages, a plurality of target-cathodes that can be powered at different voltages disposed along said path of travel, and a controller configured to selectively vary the target-cathode voltage a... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7039501 | Method for determining a position of a robot Generally, a method of determining a position of a robot is provided. In one embodiment, a method of determining a position of a robot comprises acquiring a first set of positional metrics, acquiring a second set of positional metrics and resolving the position of t... | 05/02/2006 |
| 7011733 | Method and apparatus for depositing films In a sputtering apparatus, target particles to be deposited onto a substrate are selectively ionized relative to other particles in the deposition chamber. For example, titanium or titanium-containing target particles are selectively ionized, while inert particles, ... | 03/14/2006 |
| 7008518 | Method and apparatus for monitoring optical characteristics of thin films in a deposition process The present invention is directed at least in part to methods and apparatus for optically monitoring selected optical characteristics of coatings formed on substrates during the deposition process and controlling the deposition process responsive thereto. In one asp... | 03/07/2006 |
| 7008520 | Sputtering device An object of the invention is to provide a sputtering device which can provide increased distribution of film formation and coverage distribution better than prior sputtering devices. Thus, this invention is that, in the sputtering device constituted of a substrate ... | 03/07/2006 |
| 6972055 | Continuous flow deposition system An atomic layer deposition system is described that includes a deposition chamber. A first and second reaction chamber are positioned in the deposition chamber and contain a first and a second reactant species, respectively. A monolayer of the first reactant species... | 12/06/2005 |
| 6964731 | Soil-resistant coating for glass surfaces A glass article which has a water-sheeting coating and a method of applying coatings to opposed sides of a substrate are described. In one embodiment, a glass sheet is provided bearing a sputtered water-sheeting coating comprising silica on an exterior surface and b... | 11/15/2005 |
| 6962648 | Back-biased face target sputtering A facing targets sputtering device for semiconductor fabrication includes an air-tight chamber in which an inert gas is admittable and exhaustible; a pair of target plates placed at opposite ends of said air-tight chamber respectively so as to face each other and fo... | 11/08/2005 |
| 6939446 | Soil-resistant coating for glass surfaces A glass article which has a water-sheeting coating and a method of applying coatings to opposed sides of a substrate are described. In one embodiment, a water-sheeting coating 20 comprising silica is sputtered directly onto an exterior surface of the glass. T... | 09/06/2005 |
| 6911123 | Facing-targets-type sputtering apparatus and method Disclosed is a facing-targets-type sputtering apparatus and method capable of forming a metal film under the conditions of low gas pressure and low discharge voltage. An opening is formed in each of two facing side faces of a vacuum chamber vessel or in each of two ... | 06/28/2005 |
| 6905582 | Configurable vacuum system and method An exemplary configurable vacuum system is provided for use in coating or plating that provides the capability and versatility to handle substrates of significantly different shapes and sizes. The configurable vacuum system includes a vacuum table assembly, a mechan... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6905578 | Apparatus and method for multi-target physical-vapor deposition of a multi-layer material structure An apparatus and method for depositing plural layers of materials on a substrate within a single vacuum chamber allows high-throughput deposition of structures such as these for GMR and MRAM application. An indexing mechanism aligns a substrate with each of plural t... | 06/14/2005 |
| 6902997 | Process of forming bonding columns A bonding column fabrication process for forming boding columns over a wafer. First, a mask layer is formed over the active surface of a wafer. The mask has a plurality of openings that exposes chip pads (or electrode pads) on the active surface of the wafer. A high... | 06/07/2005 |
| 6858085 | Two-compartment chamber for sequential processing An apparatus for sequential and isolated processing of a workpiece comprises a two compartment chamber and a mechanism to transfer the workpiece from one compartment to the other compartment. The transfer mechanism comprises two doors that seal the pathway between t... | 02/22/2005 |
| 6858115 | Process for reforming surface of substrate, reformed substrate and apparatus for the same Sputtering particles are deposited immediately after activating a surface of a substrate composed of a carbon-containing material. Accordingly, a process for reforming a surface of a substrate, a substrate with a reformed surface, and an apparatus therefor are provi... | 02/22/2005 |
| 6835290 | System and method for controlling thin film defects A system and method for reducing and controlling the number of defects due to carbon inclusions on magnetic media is disclosed. A diamond like carbon protective layer is deposited on magnetic media using a rotary cathode target assembly. The target and cathode are c... | 12/28/2004 |
