Patents Represented by Attorney IP Strategy Group
  • Patent number: 7768766
    Abstract: A plasma processing system is disclosed. The plasma processing system may include an electrostatic chuck (ESC) positioned inside a plasma processing chamber and configured to support a wafer. The ESC may include a positive terminal (+ESC) for providing a first force to the wafer and a negative terminal (?ESC) for providing a second force to the wafer. The plasma processing system may also include a first trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) and a second TIA configured to measure a first set of voltages for calculating a value of a positive load current applied to the positive terminal. The plasma processing system may also include a third TIA and a fourth TIA configured to measure a second set of voltages for calculating a value of a negative load current applied to the negative terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2010
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventors: Seyed Jafar Jafarian-Tehrani, Ralph Jan-Pin Lu
  • Patent number: 7758718
    Abstract: A method for processing a substrate in a plasma processing chamber having a chamber wall is provided. The method includes providing an electrode arrangement having a cylindrical electrode encapsulated within a dielectric liner, which is coupled with the chamber wall. The method also includes providing an inductive circuit arrangement, which is coupled between the cylindrical electrode and the chamber wall. The method further includes generating a plasma within the plasma processing chamber to process the substrate while the electrode arrangement is disposed within the plasma processing chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2010
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventor: Sebastien Dine
  • Patent number: 7758764
    Abstract: A method for processing a substrate in a plasma processing chamber is provided. The substrate is disposed above a chuck and surrounded by an edge ring. The edge ring is electrically isolated from the chuck. The method includes providing first RF power to the chuck. The method also includes providing an edge ring RF voltage control arrangement. The edge ring RF voltage control arrangement is coupled to the edge ring to provide second RF power to the edge ring resulting in the edge ring having an edge ring potential. The method further includes generating a plasma within the plasma processing chamber to process the substrate. The substrate is being processed while the edge ring RF voltage control arrangement is configured to cause the edge ring potential to be substantially equal to a DC potential of the substrate while processing the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2010
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventors: Rajinder Dhindsa, Alexei Marakhtanov
  • Patent number: 7760859
    Abstract: Intelligent network tap port aggregators for use in monitoring a network and methods for use therein are presented including: a number of device interface terminals for receiving network feeds; a tap structure coupled with device interface terminals, the tap structure configured to monitor the second network feeds and to aggregate the network feeds into an aggregated network feed; a monitor interface terminal coupled to the tap structure for providing the aggregated network feed to a network monitor; and a display coupled to the tap structure and configured to display selected network parameters corresponding to the network feeds. In some embodiments, the intelligent network tap port aggregator also includes: a network controller coupled with the tap structure for providing communication between the tap structure and a number of managing devices; and a managing device interface coupled with the network controller for providing Internet access to the network controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 7, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2010
    Assignee: Net Optics, Inc.
    Inventors: Eldad Matityahu, Bob Shaw, Xiaochun Liu, Stephen Strong
  • Patent number: 7743730
    Abstract: An electrode assembly configured to provide a ground path for a plasma processing chamber of a plasma processing system is disclosed. The apparatus includes an electrode configured to be exposed to a plasma. The apparatus also includes a heater plate disposed above the electrode, wherein the heater plate is configured to heat the electrode. The apparatus further includes a cooling plate disposed above the heater plate, wherein the cooling plate is configured to cool the electrode. The apparatus also includes a plasma chamber lid configured to confine the plasma in the plasma chamber, wherein the plasma chamber lid includes a ground. The apparatus further includes a clamp ring configured to secure the electrode, the heater plate, and the cooling plate to the plasma chamber lid, the clamp ring is further configured to provide the ground path from the electrode to the chamber lid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2010
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventors: Arnold Kholodenko, Anwar Husain
  • Patent number: 7740736
    Abstract: Techniques and apparatus for substantially reducing and/or preventing the occurrence of plasma un-confinement events, including one or more of shielding a gap disposed between chamber components and along a RF current path with a dielectric shielding structure, shielding a sharp component structure with a dielectric shielding structure, and keeping the gap between adjacent pairs of plasma confinement rings smaller than the worst-case DeBye length for the plasma.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2006
    Date of Patent: June 22, 2010
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventors: Andreas Fischer, Rajinder Dhindsa
  • Patent number: 7723994
    Abstract: A plasma processing chamber with a probe apparatus configured to measure a set of electrical characteristics in a plasma is disclosed. The plasma processing chamber includes a set of plasma chamber surfaces configured to be exposed to the plasma. The probe apparatus includes a collection disk structure configured to be exposed to the plasma, whereby the collection disk structure is coplanar with at least one of the set of plasma chamber surfaces. The probe apparatus also includes a conductive path configured to transmit the set of electrical characteristics from the collection disk structure to a set of transducers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2010
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Kimball, Eric Hudson, Douglas Keil, Alexei Marakhtanov
  • Patent number: 7722778
    Abstract: Universal plasma unconfinement detection systems configured to detect the plasma unconfinement condition in the plasma processing chamber and methods therefor. The detection systems and methods are designed to reliably and accurately detect the existence of the plasma unconfinement condition in a process-independent and recipe-independent manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2010
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventors: Andreas Fischer, David Pirkle
  • Patent number: 7711673
    Abstract: The invention relates, in an embodiment, to a computer-implemented method for automatic charset detection, which includes detecting an encoding scheme of a target document. The method includes training, using a plurality of text document samples, to obtain a set of machine learning models. Training includes using SIM (Similarity Algorithm) to generate the set of machine learning models from feature vectors obtained from the plurality of text document samples. The method also includes applying the set of machine learning models against a set of target document feature vectors converted from the target document to detect the encoding scheme.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2010
    Assignee: Trend Micro Incorporated
    Inventor: Lili Diao
  • Patent number: 7711629
    Abstract: Network-based, computer-implemented techniques and arrangements for fulfilling multi-modal freight shipment involving at least two transportation modes between a first location and a second location are disclosed. In one implementation, there is included receiving a derivative purchase request for capacity between the first location and the second location, the derivative purchase request having contract requirements that specify at least a shipment volume and a performance time. There is further included ascertaining from a database of available derivative contracts a plurality of potentially suitable derivative contracts that satisfy the contract requirements. There is also included selecting a subset of the plurality of potentially suitable derivative contracts to satisfy the derivative purchase request, the subset including at least a first derivative contract for a first mode of the two transportation modes and a second derivative contract for a second mode of the two transportation modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2010
    Assignee: Future Freight Corporation
    Inventors: Pierre L. Laurent, Petere Miner
  • Patent number: 7691278
    Abstract: An apparatus generating a plasma for removing fluorinated polymer from a substrate is disclosed. The embodiment includes a powered electrode assembly, including a powered electrode, a first dielectric layer, and a first wire mesh disposed between the powered electrode and the first dielectric layer. The embodiment also includes a grounded electrode assembly disposed opposite the powered electrode assembly so as to form a cavity wherein the plasma is generated, the first wire mesh being shielded from the plasma by the first dielectric layer when the plasma is present in the cavity, the cavity having an outlet at one end for providing the plasma to remove the fluorinated polymer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2010
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventors: Hyungsuk Alexander Yoon, John Boyd, Andras Kuthi, Andrew D. Bailey, III
  • Patent number: 7690580
    Abstract: Apparatuses and methods backward compatible with existing card processing infrastructure are provided to furnish dynamically configurable data to a card reader to facilitate transactions such as credit card transactions. The inventive apparatuses and methods are operable even with card readers configured to read statically implemented data, such as statically implement magnetic stripe data and/or statically printed bar codes. Techniques are also provided to take advantage of features of the inventive apparatus and method to substantially reduce or to eliminate transaction fraud and to improve efficiency for cardholders, card issuers, and intermediary institutions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2010
    Inventor: Austin William Shoemaker
  • Patent number: 7689704
    Abstract: A method for automatically creating a complete first data path between a user interface device (UID) and a system device. The UID and the system device are coupled to a set of UID switches. The method includes providing a switch command server (SCS), which is in electronic communication with the set of UID switches. The method also includes receiving at the SCS a switch/location agnostic connectivity indication (SLACI), which is generic with respect to switch-specific command syntax. The SLACI is also received from a SLACI-origination device that is location agnostic with respect to the set of UID switches. The method further includes transmitting, automatically in response to a triggering condition, a first set of switch commands from the SCS to the set of UID switches to connect the UID and the system device connect along an available data path to form the complete first data path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2010
    Assignee: Global Serv Inc.
    Inventor: Anthony A. de Kerf
  • Patent number: 7688820
    Abstract: A method in Field Programmable Gate Array for processing packets received at a media gateway is provided. The method includes ascertaining whether a received packet is a UDP (User Datagram Protocol) packet. The method also includes comparing first portion of UDP destination port number from UDP packet header with first portion with UDP port base that has been set up in media gateway. If a match exist, employing second portion of UDP destination port number as a key to UDP port table to ascertain whether packets associated with media stream ID are to be discarded, and discarding received packet if packet associated with media stream ID is to be discarded. If not, obtaining media processing CPU ID associated with media stream ID, formulating destination MAC address, and updating packet with destination MAC address, thereby enabling packet to be switched to media processing CPU associated with media processing CPU ID.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2010
    Assignee: DiVitas Networks, Inc.
    Inventors: Paolo Forte, Snehal Karia, Josh Marder
  • Patent number: 7689531
    Abstract: The invention relates, in an embodiment, to a computer-implemented method for automatic charset detection, which includes detecting an encoding scheme of a target document. The method includes training, using a plurality of text document samples, to obtain a set of machine learning models. Training includes using a SVM (Support Vector Machine) technique to generate the set of machine learning models from feature vectors obtained from the plurality of text document samples. The method also includes applying the set of machine learning models against a set of target document feature vectors converted from the target document to detect the encoding scheme.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2010
    Assignee: Trend Micro Incorporated
    Inventors: Lili Diao, Yun-chian Cheng
  • Patent number: 7680559
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for creating a set of wafer transfer instructions configured to transfer a wafer between an origination wafer-holding location and a destination wafer-holding location in a plasma cluster tool, which has a plurality of wafer-holding locations. The method includes receiving a first user-provided location indicator and a second user-provided location indicator, which graphically identify the origination wafer-holding location and the destination wafer-holding location respectively on the on-screen graphical representation of the plasma cluster tool. The method further includes ascertaining data pertaining to a path between the first user-provided location indicator and the second user-provided location indicator. The method further includes forming the set of wafer transfer instructions responsive to the data pertaining to the path. The set of wafer transfer instructions is configured to transfer the wafer along a set of wafer-holding locations associated with the path.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2010
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventor: Christopher Fryer Thorgrimsson
  • Patent number: 7679024
    Abstract: A gas distribution arrangement configured to provide a process gas downstream to a plasma tube of a plasma processing chamber. The plasma tube has a top end. The arrangement includes a body having a first end. The first end has a width larger than the plasma tube and a protrusion end adapted to be inserted into the top end. The arrangement also includes a gas inlet vertically disposed in the body. The gas inlet extends from the first end toward the protrusion end and the gas inlet terminates before extending through the protrusion end. The arrangement further includes a plurality of directional inlet channels extending from a lower end of the gas inlet through the protrusion end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2010
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventors: Ing-Yann Albert Wang, Mohammad Kamarehi
  • Patent number: 7676295
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for managing substrate processing data. Substrate process data is acquired while a substrate is processed in a plasma-processing chamber of a cluster tool. The method includes receiving meta-data that identifies at least one of an identification of the substrate and a process. The method further includes receiving from transducers process data streams, each of the process data streams pertaining to a process parameter being monitored. Individual data items in each of the process data streams are being collected in accordance to one of a first methodology and a second methodology. The first methodology represents data collection that is periodic in time. The second methodology represents data collection that happens when predefined events occur. The method also includes storing individual data items associated with process data streams in a single file. The single file stores only data pertaining to a single recipe used to process the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2010
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventor: Chad R. Weetman
  • Patent number: 7676790
    Abstract: A method for generating plasma processing system component analysis software is provided. The method includes defining component specifications for a plurality of components. Each of the plurality of components implements at least one of a user-interface function, a logic operation function, an input function, and an output function for analyzing a plasma processing system component. Defining includes selecting the plurality of components from a component panel of a visual integrated design editor architecture (VIDEA), thereby causing the plurality of components to be disposed in a layout format in the VIDEA. Defining also includes specifying properties of each of the plurality of components by performing at least one of selecting from predefined properties and defining parameters for the properties. The method also includes saving the plurality of components after the defining in a mark-up language configured to be executable by a browser without requiring prior compiling.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 9, 2010
    Assignee: Lam Research Corporation
    Inventors: Gean Hsu, Theresa Moriguchi
  • Patent number: 7672283
    Abstract: Computer implemented techniques for detecting the presence and identity of unauthorized wireless devices (“UWD”) on a network. The technique is capable of detecting the presence and existence UWDs irrespective whether the UWDs implements encryption in their communication. Furthermore, it is unnecessary for the computer-implemented method to access the management console of a wireless access point for the purpose of determining the identity of the wireless client devices that currently employ the access point to accomplish the wireless communication. The computer-implemented method also does not require any software agent to be installed on the wireless client devices for the purpose of detecting unauthorized wireless communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2010
    Assignee: Trend Micro Incorporated
    Inventors: Chia-Chi Chang, Link Lin