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3M employee and church chorister Art Fry needed something to temporarily mark pages in his hymnal. He was in luck because his colleague, Spencer Silver, accidentally developed a glue that was too weak for other purposes. After initially discouraging consumer response, Post-it Notes became a hit in 1979.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8112246 | Apparatus for and a method of determining surface characteristics Light reflected by a sample surface region and a reference surface interfere. A detector senses light intensity at intervals during relative movement along a scan path between the sample surface and the reference surface to provide a series of intensity values repre... | 02/07/2012 |
| 7970580 | Methods of calculating differences of binding affinities between congeneric pairs of ligands by way of a displaced solvent functional Described is a technique to exhaustively enumerate the thermodynamic properties of the water molecules solvating the active site of a protein in its apostate and calculate the relative binding affinities of congeneric compounds that bind to this protein. The subject... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7970581 | Methods of calculating differences of binding affinities between congeneric pairs of ligands by way of a displaced solvent functional Described is a technique to exhaustively enumerate the thermodynamic properties of the water molecules solvating the active site of a protein in its apostate and calculate the relative binding affinities of congeneric compounds that bind to this protein. The subject... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7925468 | Method for characterizing hiding of coating compositions and apparatus used therefor The present invention is directed to an apparatus and a method that characterizes the hiding of coating compositions, such as automotive OEM and refinishes paints. The method is directed to sequentially storing in a computing device hiding data obtained by measuring... | 04/12/2011 |
| 7840375 | Methods and apparatus for generating a library of spectra A method of generating a library from a reference substrate for use in processing product wafers is described. The method includes measuring substrate characteristics at a plurality of well-defined points of a reference substrate, measuring spectra at plurality of m... | 11/23/2010 |
| 7756674 | Methods of calculating differences of binding affinities between congeneric pairs of ligands by way of a displaced solvent functional Described is a technique to exhaustively enumerate the thermodynamic properties of the water molecules solvating the active site of a protein in its apostate and calculate the relative binding affinities of congeneric compounds that bind to this protein. The subject... | 07/13/2010 |
| 7739075 | Method for computing crystal shapes from X-ray diffraction data (XRD) of a substance The present invention relates to a method for computing external crystal shapes from X-Ray Diffraction Data (XRD) of a substance. Each diffraction peak arises from a set of crystal planes and the peak width is related to the thickness of the crystal in a direction p... | 06/15/2010 |
| 7424389 | Measuring layer thickness or composition changes A method of measuring the thickness or the rate of change of thickness of a layer as the layer is being formed on a substrate, includes illuminating the layer through the substrate with low coherence light that transmits through the layer; collecting a portion of th... | 09/09/2008 |
| 7421370 | Method and apparatus for measuring a characteristic of a sample feature A scanning probe microscope (SPM) based measuring technique for measuring surface features of a sample fits a curve to a family of feature edge points acquired as a result of an SPM scan of the surface feature. If two curves are fit on opposed edges of the feature o... | 09/02/2008 |
| 7409309 | Method of deciding the quality of the measurement value by the edge width A method of deciding the quality of a measurement value of the line width, the line interval or the like of a pattern on an object to-be-measured, including acquiring the signal intensity distribution of the pattern on the object to-be-measured, detecting the edge p... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7409313 | Method and apparatus for nondestructive evaluation of insulative coating An apparatus is provided for determining thickness and thermal conductivity for an insulative coating disposed on a substrate in an object. The apparatus includes a source for rapidly applying a multiple optical pulses on a surface of the object, where the surface c... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7406394 | Spectra based endpointing for chemical mechanical polishing Methods and apparatus for spectrum-based endpointing. An endpointing method includes selecting two or more reference spectra. Each reference spectrum is a spectrum of white light reflected from a film of interest on a first substrate and has a thickness greater than... | 07/29/2008 |
| 7372565 | Spectrometer measurement of diffracting structures A normal incidence reflectometer includes a rotatable analyzer/polarizer for measurement of a diffracting structure. Relative rotation of the analyzer/polarizer with respect to the diffracting structure permits analysis of the diffracted radiation at multiple polari... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7367008 | Adjustment of masks for integrated circuit fabrication A pattern-dependent model is used to predict characteristics of an integrated circuit that is to be fabricated in accordance with a design by a process. The process includes (a) a fabrication process that will impart topographical variation to the integrated circuit... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7363099 | Integrated circuit metrology Sites to be measured on a device that is to be fabricated using at least one fabrication process, are selected based on a pattern-dependent model of the process. A metrology tool to measure a parameter of a semiconductor device includes a control element to select s... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7353141 | Method and system for monitoring component consumption A method for monitoring consumption of a component, including the steps of emitting a radiation beam onto a first area of the component and detecting a portion of the radiation beam that is refracted by the component. A radiation level signal is generated based at l... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7319530 | System and method for measuring germanium concentration for manufacturing control of BiCMOS films A system and method is disclosed for measuring a germanium concentration in a semiconductor wafer for manufacturing control of BiCMOS films. Germanium is deposited over a silicon substrate layer to form a silicon germanium film. Then a rapid thermal oxidation (RTO) ... | 01/15/2008 |
| 7313501 | Method and system for determining the location of a potential defect in a device based on a temperature profile According to one embodiment of the invention a method for determining the location of a potential defect in a device includes scanning a surface of the device with a temperature sensor while operating the device. The method also includes measuring a temperature of t... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7282703 | Method and apparatus for accurate calibration of a reflectometer by using a relative reflectance measurement A reflectometer calibration technique is provided that may include the use of two calibration samples in the calibration process. Further, the technique allows for calibration even in the presence of variations between the actual and assumed properties of at least o... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7283226 | Measurement system cluster Systems and methods are disclosed for measuring semiconductor wafers in a fabrication process using one or more of a plurality of measurement systems. A measurement system cluster is provided having a plurality of such measurement systems, along with a system for tr... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7282374 | Method and apparatus for comparing device and non-device structures The present invention provides a method and apparatus for comparing device and non-device structures. The method includes determining at least one characteristic parameter associated with at least one non-device structure on at least one workpiece and determining at... | 10/16/2007 |
| 7262865 | Method and apparatus for controlling a calibration cycle or a metrology tool A method and apparatus for controlling when a calibration cycle is started for a metrology tool. The method and apparatus exploits a correlation between a drift of a first parameter (e.g., film thickness measurement drift) and a drift of a second parameter (e.g., CD... | 08/28/2007 |
| 7254458 | Systems and methods for metrology recipe and model generation Systems and methodologies are disclosed for generating setup information for use measuring process parameters associated with semiconductor devices. A system comprises an off-line measurement instrument to measure an unpatterned wafer and a setup information generat... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7236244 | Alignment target to be measured with multiple polarization states An alignment target includes periodic patterns on two elements. The periodic patterns are aligned when the two elements are properly aligned. By measuring the two periodic patterns at multiple polarization states and comparing the resulting intensities of the polari... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7233878 | Method and system for monitoring component consumption A method for monitoring consumption of a component, including the steps of emitting a radiation beam onto a first area of the component and detecting a portion of the radiation beam that is refracted by the component. A radiation level signal is generated based at l... | 06/19/2007 |
| 7230705 | Alignment target with designed in offset An alignment target includes periodic patterns on two elements. The alignment target includes two locations, at least one of which has a designed in offset. In one embodiment, both measurement locations have a designed in offset of the same magnitude but opposite di... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7216045 | Selection of wavelengths for integrated circuit optical metrology Specific wavelengths to use in optical metrology of an integrated circuit can be selected using one or more selection criteria and termination criteria. Wavelengths are selected using the selection criteria, and the selection of wavelengths is iterated until the ter... | 05/08/2007 |
| 7212293 | Optical determination of pattern feature parameters using a scalar model having effective optical properties Optical characterization of lateral features of a pattern is provided. A plane-wave optical response is calculated for each feature. At least one of these plane-wave responses is calculated from an effective optical property (e.g., a waveguide modal refractive index... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7200950 | Process for monitoring measuring device performance The disclosed embodiments relate to calibrating a measuring device by comparing a set of master measurement data against a set of current measurement data. Adjustments are made to the measuring device based on the difference between the current measurement data and ... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7203356 | Subject segmentation and tracking using 3D sensing technology for video compression in multimedia applications Three-dimensional position information is used to segment objects in a scene viewed by a three dimensional camera. At one or more instances of an interval, the head location of the user is determined. Object-based compression schemes are applied on the segmented obj... | 04/10/2007 |
| 7197426 | Method and apparatus for measuring thickness of metal layer In a method and apparatus for measuring a thickness of a metal layer formed on a semiconductor substrate first, second, and third light pulses are successively irradiated onto a top surface of the metal layer to generate respective first, second, and third second so... | 03/27/2007 |
| 7194361 | Computer-implemented method and apparatus for matching paint A method for matching paint on a vehicle, having the steps of receiving in a central computer vehicle identifying information relating to a specific vehicle and a first set of paint color data from a portion of the body of the vehicle. The central computer includes ... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7194360 | Method of determining radioactive nuclides A method of simply and quickly determining α-ray releasing nuclides having long half-life without carrying out a chemical separation is provided. By inputting a data of pulses incident to an α-ray detector in a computer, obtaining time distribution of the i... | 03/20/2007 |
| 7180286 | Hand-held device for non-destructive thickness measurement An apparatus for non-destructive measurement of the thickness of thin layers, has a housing and a probe which is connected to an evaluation unit and to which signals are emitted during a measurement for determining the layer thickness, and having a display apparatus... | 02/20/2007 |
| 7174272 | Method for detecting an element A method for detecting an element is disclosed and which includes the steps of providing a gamma-ray spectrum which depicts, at least in part, a test region having boundaries, and which has a small amount of the element to be detected; providing a calculation which ... | 02/06/2007 |
| 7146279 | Measuring device A device for measuring at least one property of a material web, in particular a paper or board web, includes movable measuring probes provided on both sides of the web, which can be pressed against the web with preferably at least substantially equal force, forming ... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7145662 | Method for measuring thickness of an optical disc A method of measuring thickness of an optical disc by using an interference effect of the optical disc layer is disclosed. The method includes detecting an intensity of a reflective light according to a wavelength of a light as spectrum data for each wavelength, con... | 12/05/2006 |
| 7124386 | Dummy fill for integrated circuits A method and system are described to reduce process variation as a result of the electrochemical deposition (ECD), also referred to as electrochemical plating (ECP), and chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) processing of films in integrated circuit manufacturing proc... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7120553 | Iso-reflectance wavelengths A method of measuring a physical characteristic of a patterned substrate comprises determining a wavelength where a first reflectance from a patterned substrate equals a second reflectance from the patterned substrate. The first and second reflectances are generated... | 10/10/2006 |
| 7115858 | Apparatus and method for the measurement of diffracting structures A normal incidence reflectometer includes a rotatable analyzer/polarizer, which permits measurement of a diffracting structure. Relative rotation of the analyzer/polarizer with respect to the diffracting structure permits analysis of the diffracted radiation at mult... | 10/03/2006 |
