Did You Know...
...that the inventor of the electric motor was a blacksmith named Thomas Davenport? Described as "a brilliantly unsuccessful inventor", Davenport invented the first rotary electric motor. In 1836 he headed out -- on foot -- from his Vermont home to file a patent application at the Patent Office in Washington, D.C. By the time he got there, he had squandered away his money and couldn't afford the $30 filing fee so he turned around and went home. When he later mailed in his application with money he'd raised, the Patent office was destroyed in a fire. He did finally get credit for his invention on Feb. 5, 1837.
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7894054 | Optical sensor device for detecting ambient light An optical sensor device for detecting ambient light is adapted to be coupled to a pane (10), in particular to a windshield of a motor vehicle. The optical sensor device has a sensor unit which includes at least one light receiver (26) and a lens plate... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7589836 | Optoelectronic sensor device An optoelectronic sensor device is described for recording of soiling on a transparent cover, with at least one light source that emits at least two light beams, a test surface arranged in the cover, having a concave surface exposed to environmental effects, through... | 09/15/2009 |
| 7355694 | Method and apparatus for measuring a particle diameter of foam on a malt alcoholic drink A method and apparatus for measuring the particle diameter of foam on a malt alcoholic drink, which can detennine the quality of the foam of the malt alcoholic drink objectively, are provided. The apparatus for measuring the particle diameter of foam on a malt alcoh... | 04/08/2008 |
| 7349082 | Particle detection device, lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method To enable differentiation between a particle and a ghost particle, a detector system is presented. The detector system is configured to output at least two detector signals corresponding to an intensity of radiation being incident on the detector system. If radiatio... | 03/25/2008 |
| 7339664 | System and method for inspecting a light-management film and method of making the light-management film A method of inspecting a light-management film comprises reflecting light from an overhead light source off a first side of the light-management film and examining the light-management film for defects; directing transmission light from a backlight source through a ... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7307714 | Apparatus and process for detecting inclusions Disclosed are process and apparatus for inspecting internal inclusions in internally transmissive substrates. The process involves applying a black coating to one major surface of the substrate, submerging the substrate in a refractive index-matching fluid, and scan... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7304730 | Inspection apparatus having two sensors, method for inspecting an object, and a method for manufacturing a photolithography mask A photolithography mask inspection apparatus has at least two sensors. One sensor is configured to sense light transmitted through an object to be inspected, and the other sensor senses light reflected off the object. A first optical system is arranged to expose a f... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7301619 | Evaluating a multi-layered structure for voids A method and apparatus measure properties of two layers of a damascene structure (e.g. a silicon wafer during fabrication), and use the two measurements to identify a location as having voids. The two measurements may be used in any manner, e.g. compared to one anot... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7289231 | Apparatus and method for determining physical properties of a mask blank An apparatus for determining physical properties of a mask blank. The apparatus includes, for example, an illumination device for radiating a predetermined light laterally into the mask blank, a detection device opposite the illumination device for detecting the lig... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7289655 | Device for inspecting illumination optical device and method for inspecting illumination optical device The invention provides a device to inspect an illumination optical device and a method to inspect an illumination optical device that make it possible to efficiently inspect illumination optical devices and to control manufacturing cost. A lens array inspecting devi... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7286220 | Test piece for optoelectronic image analysis systems A test piece for an optoelectronic image analysis systems is disclosed. One embodiment has a planar substrate, on which a plurality of geometrical patterns of differing shapes and/or sizes are arranged in a durable, predetermined surface coverage. The geometrical pa... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7283227 | Oblique transmission illumination inspection system and method for inspecting a glass sheet An oblique illumination inspection system and method are described herein that are used to identify a defect (e.g., inclusion, onclusion, scratch, stain, blister, cord or other imperfection associated with a surface discontinuity or material non-homogeneity) on or w... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7279657 | Scanned rapid thermal processing with feed forward control A thermal processing system and method including scanning a line beam of intense radiation in a direction transverse to the line direction for thermally processing a wafer with a localized effectively pulsed beam of radiant energy. The thickness of the wafer is two-... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7265366 | Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method A lithographic apparatus includes a radiation source configured to provide radiation to an illumination system, the radiation source configured to provide radiation in a first wavelength range and in a second wavelength range, the second wavelength range being diffe... | 09/04/2007 |
| 7256895 | Spherical scattering-light device for simultaneous phase and intensity measurements A far-field measurement instrument has multiple imaging lenses cut into a pentagon shape and arranged in geodesic spherical configuration with a common field of view focused on the source of the scattered light to be measured. Aspheric lenses are used to facilitate ... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7256884 | Particle detecting system and method of detecting particles using the same There is provided a particle detector system and to detect particles on target including reticle and pellicle. The system includes a light transmitting device adapted to transmit light beam to a target through an electrowetting microlens, a light receiving device ad... | 08/14/2007 |
| 7245367 | Method and apparatus for detecting contaminants on a window surface of a viewing system utilizing light A method of detecting contaminants on a window surface of a viewing system comprises the steps of: reflecting light off of contaminants on the window surface; capturing the reflected light in an image; converting the image into image data; and processing the image d... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7245366 | Surface inspection method and surface inspection apparatus A surface inspection apparatus includes an LD (10 for emitting a laser beam (L0), an irradiation optical system for entering the emitted laser beam (L0) onto an inspection surface (210) of a wafer at predetermined depression angle (α), a... | 07/17/2007 |
| 7242797 | Method and apparatus for mapping defects on the light transmissive support surface of a document scanning or photocopying device The invention is directed to a method and apparatus for mapping defects on a light transmissive support surface of a document scanning or photocopying device. The method includes a step of cleaning the support surface between steps of operating the device so as to r... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7239389 | Determination of irradiation parameters for inspection of a surface Apparatus for inspection of a surface, including irradiating optics which are adapted to irradiate the surface with an irradiating beam having an adjustable polarization. The apparatus further includes at least one detector, each detector being associated with a res... | 07/03/2007 |
| 7214918 | Sensor device, particularly for controlling lighting devices of a motor vehicle A sensor device is proposed, particularly for controlling lighting devices of a motor vehicle, having at least one receiver for receiving radiation from at least one receiver region, and a control device which is capable of controlling peripheral devices; a diffract... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7215807 | Nondestructive inspection method and apparatus The present invention relates to a method for inspecting a crack in a metal surface or the like, and, particularly, to an inspection method and apparatus for nondestructive inspection such as liquid penetrant inspection and magnetic particle testing. The present inv... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7193697 | Apparatus for feature detection An apparatus for feature detection of a test object includes at least one light source module and at least one image capturing unit. The light source module provides light to illuminate a test region of the test object, and includes a substrate, a set of light-emitt... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7187439 | High throughput inspection system and method for generating transmitted and/or reflected images Inspection system and method for high-throughput inspection, the system and method is capable to generate and sense transmitted and/or reflected short duration beams. According to one embodiment of the invention the transmitted and reflected short duration beams are... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7187440 | Holographic sensor, especially for recognition of moisture on a glass pane of a motor vehicle A holographic sensor for recognizing moisture on a glass pane of a motor vehicle is provided, having a casing, a carrier layer, a diffractive element and an adhesive layer, the diffractive element being fixed, preferably glued, on the carrier layer. The diffractive ... | 03/06/2007 |
| 7180586 | System for detection of wafer defects Fast on-line electro-optical detection of wafer defects by illuminating with a short light pulse from a repetitively pulsed laser, a section of the wafer while it is moved across the field of view of an imaging system, and imaging the moving wafer onto a focal plane... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7173270 | Detector system for detecting a height of a particle, and lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method including the same. A lithographic apparatus transfers a pattern from a patterning device onto a substrate and includes a projection system to project a patterned radiation beam onto the substrate; a controllable actuator to adjust a distance between the projection system and the subst... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7141179 | Monitoring semiconductor wafer defects below one nanometer The invention describes a method to facilitate the use of low-sensitivity monitoring equipment for detecting and monitoring defects on the surface of semiconductor wafers. The method includes the use of a hydrofluoric acid solution for increasing the dimensions of a... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7141440 | Apparatus and method for measuring a property of a layer in a multilayered structure A property of a layer is measured by: (1) focusing a heating beam on a region (also called “heated region”) of a conductive layer (2) modulating the power of the heating beam at a predetermined frequency that is selected to be sufficiently low to ensure that at ... | 11/28/2006 |
| 7133548 | Method and apparatus for reticle inspection using aerial imaging A reticle inspection system for inspecting reticles can be used as an incoming inspection tool, and as a periodic and pre-exposure inspection tool. Mask shops can use it as an inspection tool compatible to their customers, and as a printable error detection tool. Th... | 11/07/2006 |
| 7110106 | Surface inspection system An inspection system includes a stage, a light source, and a light collection subsystem is disclosed. The stage supports an article for inspection, the article having a surface. The light source provides light impinging on and scattering from an illumination area of... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7075637 | Optical scanning system for surface inspection In an optical scanning system for detecting particles and pattern defects on a sample surface, a light beam is focused to an illuminated spot on the surface and the spot is scanned across the surface along a scan line. A detector is positioned adjacent to the surfac... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7064822 | Evaluating a multi-layered structure for voids A method and apparatus measure properties of two layers of a damascene structure (e.g. a silicon wafer during fabrication), and use the two measurements to identify a location as having voids. One of the two measurements is of resistance per unit length. The two mea... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7065240 | Reticle inspection apparatus A reticle inspection apparatus for detecting defects on a reticle 16 includes an image data generator 42 for generating image data of the reticle 16, a definition analyzer 44 for analyzing definition of image from the image data, a defini... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7064821 | Sample inspection system A curved mirrored surface is used to collect radiation scattered by a sample surface and originating from a normal illumination beam and an oblique illumination beam. The collected radiation is focused to a detector. Scattered radiation originating from the normal a... | 06/20/2006 |
| 7050949 | Signal processing method and device A signal processing method and a signal processing device are provided in which a signal obtained from an object as an input signal, a time lag signal is generated from the input signal, a difference between the input signal and the time lag signal, and the generati... | 05/23/2006 |
| 7043397 | Reduced multicubic database interpolation method for optical measurement of diffractive microstructures A reduced multicubic database interpolation method is provided. The interpolation method is designed to map a function and its associated argument into an interpolated value using a database of points. The database is searched to locate an interpolation cell that in... | 05/09/2006 |
| 7034932 | Deposit detector and controller using the detector The present invention provides an object-sensing device capable of estimating the presence of an object attached on a sensing surface, the kind of the object and the state of the object. An image is formed by a lens with light via the sensing surface, and the light ... | 04/25/2006 |
| 7026175 | High throughput measurement of via defects in interconnects Heat is applied to a conductive structure that includes one or more vias, and the temperature at or near the point of heat application is measured. The measured temperature indicates the integrity or the defectiveness of various features (e.g. vias and/or traces) in... | 04/11/2006 |
| 7002480 | Deposit detector and control device using it A deposit detector in which deposit on a detection surface has a surface shape effect, and generation of a flashing phenomenon caused by irregular reflection of the light incident on the deposit from the outside is estimated. In a deposit detection mode, light emitt... | 02/21/2006 |
