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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8117892 | Hardness testing instrument and calibration method thereof Disclosed is a hardness testing instrument which measures a hardness of a specimen, the hardness testing instrument including: a load applying section with the indenter or a flat indenter mounted thereon; a driving section to move the load applying section; a specim... | 02/21/2012 |
| 8087282 | Test management method for indentation tester and indentation tester Disclosed a test management method for an indentation tester which includes a control section and forms an indentation on a surface of a heated or cooled sample by pressing an indenter to which a load is applied onto the surface of the sample, the test management me... | 01/03/2012 |
| 8037736 | Non-linearity determination of positioning scanner of measurement tool Determination of non-linearity of a positioning scanner of a measurement tool is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method may include providing a probe of a measurement tool coupled to a positioning scanner; scanning a surface of a first sample with the surface at a f... | 10/18/2011 |
| 7900497 | System, method and apparatus for obtaining true roughness of granular media The true roughness of highly granular perpendicular media is measured by forming an inverse replica of the surface of the media. The invention enables AFM measurements of granular media valley depth to more consistently predict the corrosion performance of the media... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7895879 | Sample holder for holding samples at pre-determined angles The invention generally relates to atomic resolution imaging, and, more particularly, to systems and methods for calibrating an atomic resolution measurement tool. A sample holder for holding test samples used in measuring linearity of an atomic force microscope is ... | 03/01/2011 |
| 7814775 | Apparatus for controlling Z-position of probe Apparatus of easily controlling the Z-position of the probe used in a microprobe analyzer. The apparatus has: (A) a holder, (B) a reference body having a reference surface that is at the same height as a surface of a sample, the reference body being placed on or in ... | 10/19/2010 |
| 7434445 | Apparatus for determining cantilever parameters Apparatus for determining physical properties of micromachined cantilevers used in cantilever-based instruments, including atomic force microscopes, molecular force probe instruments and chemical or biological sensing probes. The properties that may be so determined... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7372016 | Calibration standard for a dual beam (FIB/SEM) machine Calibration of measurements of features made with a system having a micromachining tool and an analytical tool is disclosed. The measurements can be calibrated with a standard having a calibrated feature with one or more known dimensions. The standard may have one o... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7365306 | Standard member for length measurement, method for producing the same, and electron beam length measuring device using the same This invention provides an electron beam length measuring technology including a standard component for length measurement that has a finer standard dimension, and its producing method. The standard component for length measurement has a semiconductor member on whic... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7361941 | Calibration standards and methods Parameters of a metrology tool may be determined by measuring a dimension of a feature on a calibration standard with the tool and using the measured dimension and a known traceable value of the dimension to determine a value for the parameter. If the dimension of t... | 04/22/2008 |
| 7350400 | Test method to measure lubricant mobility on a hard drive disk A method for measuring the mobility of a lubricant located on the top surface of a disk used in hard disk drives. The method includes forming one or more scribe lines in a lubricant layer of the disk. The disk is then spun by a spin stand where lubricant moves in re... | 04/01/2008 |
| 7335395 | Methods of using pre-formed nanotubes to make carbon nanotube films, layers, fabrics, ribbons, elements and articles Methods of Using Preformed Nanotubes to Make Carbon Nanotube Films, Layers, Fabrics, Ribbons, Elements and Articles are disclosed. To make various articles, certain embodiments provide a substrate. Preformed nanotubes are applied to a surface of the substrate to cre... | 02/26/2008 |
| 7321426 | Optical metrology on patterned samples An optical metrology system includes model approximation logic for generating an optical model based on experimental data. By eliminating theoretical model generation, in which the fundamental equations of a test sample must be solved, the model approximation logic ... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7301638 | Dimensional calibration standards A calibration standard, for calibrating lateral or angular dimensional measurement systems, is provided. The standard may include a first substrate spaced from a second substrate. The standard may be cross-sectioned in a direction substantially perpendicular or subs... | 11/27/2007 |
| 7278296 | Scanning probe microscope The present invention is intended to solve the problem that the tip of the probe of a scanning probe microscope cannot be conditioned stably due to overload in a contact region. This problem is solved by a scanning probe microscope for scanning the probe and a sampl... | 10/09/2007 |
| 7271975 | Controlling head flying height in a data storage device Embodiments of the invention enable the flying of a slider to be lowered and increase recording density with a simple configuration in a magnetic disk apparatus. In one embodiment, a magnetic disk apparatus comprises a magnetic disk including tracks for recording da... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7268965 | Method of manufacturing an apparatus and a method for estimating the flyheight of an airbearing slider in a storage device A method and apparatus for estimating the flyheight of an airbearing slider in a storage device. The slider floats on an airbearing over a rotating storage disk. The storage disk includes a washboard-sequence having washboard-sections each comprising surface profile... | 09/11/2007 |
| 7210330 | Methods of fabricating structures for characterizing tip shape of scanning probe microscope probes and structures fabricated thereby A characterizer for determining the shape of a probe tip for an atomic force microscope and methods of fabricating and using the characterizer. The characterizer includes a micromachined crystalline structure with opposed edges separated by a width suitable for char... | 05/01/2007 |
| 7176505 | Electromechanical three-trace junction devices Three trace electromechanical circuits and methods of using same. A circuit includes first and second electrically conductive elements with a nanotube ribbon (or other electromechanical elements) disposed therebetween. An insulative layer is disposed on one of the f... | 02/13/2007 |
| 7158325 | Disk drive head touchdown detection with improved discrimination A disk drive detects head touchdown based on a magnitude of a position error signal at a discrete frequency. The discrete frequency is one-half the disk rotation frequency or an integral multiple of the disk rotation frequency. The head is heated by turning on a hea... | 01/02/2007 |
| 7138627 | Nanotube probe and method for manufacturing same A nanotube probe assembled under real-time observation inside an electron microscope, the probe including a nanotube; a holder for holding the nanotube; and a fastening means for fastening the nanotube at a base end portion thereof to the holder; and the tip end por... | 11/21/2006 |
| 7124625 | Glide-height disk-tester and method of operation A glide-height disk-tester operates with the test disk rotating at a predetermined constant rotational speed and uses a glide head with an electrically-resistive heater and a thermally-responsive protrusion pad located on its trailing end. The linear velocity of the... | 10/24/2006 |
| 7121133 | System, method, and apparatus for glide head calibration with enhanced PZT channel for very low qualification glide heights A glide head calibration technique uses two fly height calibrations on a disk media certifier. The first calibration point uses a spin down on bump technique at a first height, and the second calibration point uses a spin down on disk media roughness at a second low... | 10/17/2006 |
| 7107694 | Method for observation of microstructural surface features in heterogeneous materials A method for forming a topographical image of the heterogeneous variations in a surface of a material has a first machining step and a second scanning step. The preferred machining step uses a preselected scribing tool to scribe a plurality of adjacent grooves in a ... | 09/19/2006 |
| 7096711 | Methods of fabricating structures for characterizing tip shape of scanning probe microscope probes and structures fabricated thereby A characterizer for determining the shape of a probe tip for an atomic force microscope and methods of fabricating and using the characterizer. The characterizer includes a micromachined crystalline structure with opposed edges separated by a width suitable for char... | 08/29/2006 |
| 7092194 | Method of calibrating magnetic storage medium bi-directional recording head Methods for calibrating and positioning a recording head having a bi-directional transducer for use with a magnetic storage device is disclosed. The bi-directional transducer of the recording head is positioned within the recording head to enable vertical fly height... | 08/15/2006 |
| 7076320 | Scatterometry monitor in cluster process tool environment for advanced process control (APC) Systems and methods that improve process control in semiconductor manufacturing are disclosed. According to an aspect of the invention, conditions in a cluster tool environment and/or a wafer therein can be monitored in-situ via, for example, a scatterometry system,... | 07/11/2006 |
| 7066005 | Noncontact sensitivity and compliance calibration method for cantilever-based insturments A method for determining physical properties of micromachined cantilevers used in cantilever-based instruments, including atomic force microscopes, molecular force probe instruments and chemical or biological sensing probes. The properties that may be so determined ... | 06/27/2006 |
| 7054064 | Optical polarizer and method for fabricating such optical polarizer The present invention provides an optical polarizer and a method of fabricating such an optical polarizer. The optical polarizer includes a support member and an optical polarizing film supported by the support member. The optical polarizing film includes a number o... | 05/30/2006 |
| 6995934 | Noise suppressed data storage media Magnetic data storage media having recording layers that include microscopic surface protrusions are described. A recording head of a magnetic drive may contact the protrusions, i.e., the protrusion tops may define a load bearing surface area of the recording layers... | 02/07/2006 |
| 6965432 | Non-invasive wafer transfer position diagnosis and calibration An apparatus and method for detecting mispositioned wafers attributable to transfer shift of the wafer are disclosed. A calibration wafer has a target region comprising a pattern of optically distinguishable features from which is determined the position of the cali... | 11/15/2005 |
| 6957568 | Small particle impingement comparator and method of determining numerical estimation of a steam path component surface roughness A small particle impingement comparator for surface finishes in excess of 1000 micro-inches standardizes the evaluation of such surface finishes within a turbine steam path. The small particle impingement comparator includes a plurality of sample cells arranged side... | 10/25/2005 |
| 6941798 | Scanning probe microscope and operation method A scanning probe is microscope has a cantilever having a probe at a disal end thereof and an oscillator for generating a resonance signal near a resonance of the cantilever. A vibrating device receives the resonance signal as a driving signal for vibrating the canti... | 09/13/2005 |
| 6920008 | Slider fly-height measurement using viscoelastic material A method is presented for measuring the height of an air-bearing separating a flying component from a rotating surface using physical deformation of a small amount of material deposited on the surface. One embodiment of the invention is a method of measuring the fly... | 07/19/2005 |
| 6800865 | Coated nanotube surface signal probe and method of attaching nanotube to probe holder The coated nanotube surface signal probe constructed from a nanotube, a holder which holds the nanotube, a coating film fastening a base end portion of the nanotube to a surface of the holder by way of adhering the base end portion on the surface of holder in a rang... | 10/05/2004 |
| 6742380 | Technique for measuring small distances between, and for measuring the flatness of, electrically conductive surfaces A method and apparatus for measuring the distance between first and second proximately disposed electrically conductive surfaces is provided in which the force exerted between the first and second surfaces is measured to obtain an exerted force value. A separation d... | 06/01/2004 |
| 6679106 | Road surface roughness measuring device The object of the present invention is to provide a road surface roughness measuring apparatus for measuring the coefficient of dynamic friction and the roughness of the road surface in each direction at a same section where the coefficient of dynamic fri... | 01/20/2004 |
| 6662623 | Apparatus and method for glide height calibration of disk surfaces by use of dual-zone laser texture A disk for calibrating glide heads utilizes a dual-zone configuration of multiple laser melt bumps having selected heights. Averaging the PZT response over many bumps significantly narrows the response distribution, resulting in greater certainty and corr... | 12/16/2003 |
| 6591658 | Carbon nanotubes as linewidth standards for SEM & AFM The present invention provides systems, methods, and standards for calibrating nano-measuring devices. Calibration standards of the invention include carbon nanotubes and methods of the invention involve scanning carbon nanotubes using nano-scale measurin... | 07/15/2003 |
| 6530258 | Disk drive laser melt bump disk for accurate glide calibration and certification processing A bump disk for accurate glide calibration has a new type of glass laser melt bumps that give the same signal amplitudes as conventional AlMg laser melt bumps for the same bump height. The present invention provides a solution to switch the calibration bu... | 03/11/2003 |
