Abstract: An apparatus for providing active cooling for semiconductor wafers during implantation in an ion implantation chamber includes a housing incorporating a convexly curved platen. The platen has a coating of a pliable thermally conductive material adhered to the surface thereof. A clamping ring is mounted within the housing in slidable relationship with the convexly curved platen so that the travel of the clamping ring ranges between a receiving position wherein the clamping ring and the convexly curved platen define a slot for receiving a semiconductor wafer and a locked position wherein a semiconductor wafer is firmly pressed against the convexly curved platen by the contact of the clamping ring against the semiconductor wafer at its circumferential edge. In the locked position the wafer substantially conforms on its back side to the contour of the convexly curved platen. An active cooling means is provided for transferring thermal energy away from the platen.

Abstract: Apparatus comprising a work table movable along orthogonal axes, and optical means, including orthogonal mirrors movable with the table, for sensing the positions of the table along the axes, featuring an improvement wherein the table comprises a solid block of metal, means are provided to secure a workpiece to move with the block, and two orthogonal external surfaces of the block are polished to provide the mirrors.

Abstract: An improved collector is provided for a thermionic energy converter. The collector comprises a p-type layer of a semiconductor material formed on an n-type layer of a semiconductor material. The p-n junction is maintained in a forward biased condition. The electron affinity of the exposed surface of the p-type layer is effectively lowered to a low level near zero by the presence of a work function lowering activator. The dissipation of energy during collection is reduced by the passage of electrons through the p-type layer in the metastable conduction band state. A significant portion of the electron current remains at the potential of the Fermi level of the n-type layer rather than dropping to the Fermi level of the p-type layer. Less energy is therefore dissipated as heat and a higher net power output is delivered from a thermionic energy converter incorporating the collector.

Abstract: In apparatus having a work chamber in which workpieces are treated under high vacuum, that improvement comprising an inner chamber having a capacity for a plurality of workpieces, an outer chamber, vacuum means for evacuating the inner and outer chambers, a first valve for sealing between the work chamber and the inner chamber, a second valve for sealing between the inner and outer chambers, a third valve for sealing between the outer chamber and the atmosphere, loading means for loading workpieces through the third valve into the outer chamber from the atmosphere, and transfer means for transferring individual workpieces through the second valve between the inner and outer chambers, and for transferring individual workpieces through the first valve between the inner chamber and the work chamber.

Abstract: A monolithic series-connected solar cell comprises a series of cells each having a mesa-like structure which is electrically interconnected from the top of each cell to a contact ledge formed in the base region of the adjoining cell. The individual cells are supported on an insulating substrate. The monolithic series-connected solar cell is fabricated from a fully formed single junction solar cell by forming a series of breaks down to an insulating substrate, forming a contact ledge in the base region on one side of the mesa defined by each break, applying a layer of insulating material along the opposite side of each mesa and forming a conductive lead between the top region of individual cells and the contact ledge of the adjoining cell.

Abstract: An apparatus for performing double deflection scanning of charged particle beams utilizes a means for introducing variations in the angle of the charged particle beam in combination with the focal or optical properties of a sector magnet. The means for introducing angular variations receives a charged particle beam and varies the angle of, i.e., deflects, the beam in a plane to define a time modulated fan beam. Once the beam angle is varied the beam is introduced to the gap between the poles of a sector electromagnet operating in a direct current mode. The focal properties of the sector electromagnet translates the time modulated fan beam into a time modulated parallel beam. The parallel beam is double deflected and may be used, for example, as the substrate impinging beam in ion implantation equipment. Multiple sector magnets may be employed for multiple end stations.

Abstract: A fluorescent composition useful in thin-layer chromatography comprises an inert porous particle having a fluorescent material fixedly attached by covalent chemical bonding to the surface thereof. A process for synthesizing this fluorescent composition is disclosed. A method for detecting the radioactivity of a radioactive species using a cell packed with such a fluorescent composition is also disclosed.

Abstract: In a high-pressure liquid chromatography system, a radioactive sample in the effluent from a chromatographic column can be detected by passing the effluent into a cell packed with a fluorescent composition comprising a scintillation material chemically bonded to an inert substrate. A suitable fluorescent composition is microparticulate didansyl-N-2-aminoethyl-3-aminopropyl silica. Radioactive emissions from the sample cause scintillations in the fluorescent composition that can be detected through the walls of the cell. In order to obtain a chromatogram of the radioactivity occurring in the column, aliquots of the effluent from the column may be passed sequentially into a plurality of cells arranged on a carousel support structure that is rotable in stepwise fashion so that each cell passes in turn through a fill station, a detection station, and a wash station. At the fill station, each cell in turn is filled with an aliquot of effluent.

Abstract: A zero reference and offset compensation circuit for an operational amplifier operating in the inverting mode in order to correct for both current and voltage offset errors.

Abstract: Loss of phosphorous from a phosphorous containing substrate is eliminated by maintaining a partial pressure of phosphorous in the vicinity of the substrate higher than the inherent partial pressure of phosphorous over the material of the substrate. The higher phosphorous partial pressure is obtained by positioning in the vicinity of the substrate a solution of an element such as tin or antimony containing phosphorous. The solvent metals are so chosen as to have higher solubility for phosphorous compared to the solution of phosphorous in the substrate material. The solution is exposed to the substrate in close juxtaposition but does not make physical contact with the substrate. The phosphorous vapor pressure above the solution will be proportional to the concentration of phosphorous in the solution. Consequently, since the solution is selected to have a higher solubility for phosphorous compared to solutions consisting of substrate elements, the vapor pressure will be proportionally higher.

Abstract: A graduated multiple collector structure for inverted vertical bipolar transistors, integrated injection logic devices and the like. The invention increases the gain of more distant collectors toward which current flows laterally past intervening collectors from a base contact, and injector or the like. The series resistance drop and the current loss in the base-emitter junction are compensated for by progressively increasing the effective area of collectors further distant from the source of the base current. Although the graduated collector structure is applicable to a wide variety of semiconductor devices, it is particularly well suited for use in oxide-isolated integrated injection logic gates. A mathematical model is provided which can help to optimize designs incorporating the graduated collector structure.

Abstract: A circuit for adjusting the frequency of operation of an electronic time keeping device, which device includes a source of clock pulses. The circuit of this invention is preferably located between the source of clock pulses and the time keeping device counting circuitry, so that the clock pulses can be periodically interrupted for a programmed amount of time. Accordingly, the variable adjustment capacitor, typically employed in prior art time keeping devices, can be eliminated.

Abstract: A new and improved shock-resistant electronic watch module is provided, which comprises a case, a frame of electrically insulating material mounted in the case, a lens plate of an electrically insulating material being flexibly mounted on a first side of the frame, a substrate mounted to the lens plate, a frequency standard, a frequency divider, an electro-optical display means, and means for driving the display, all being mounted to the substrate, and, a battery removably mounted on a second side of the frame and being electrically coupled to the substrate.

Abstract: A current variable shunt impedance with a non-linear control characteristic intended to functionally imitate and replace a field effect transistor responsive to a control voltage applied to its gate electrode having a source-drain path connected as a variable impedance shunt resistor in the variable frequency high pass filter section of the commercially popular Dolby B noise reduction system. The invention allows a large part of the Dolby B encode decode circuitry to be embodied in low-cost integrated circuit form while maintaining performance characteristics which closely match existing standards. These standards were previously established using noise reduction systems fabricated from discrete circuit components. The complementary nature of the encode and decode operations used to process a signal makes such matching of performance characteristics to the established standards critical.

Abstract: A method of fabricating bipolar transistors with increased gain. A base region is formed adjacent the collector (or emitter) region of the transistor, and a portion of the base region is then removed by etching. The emitter (or collector) is then formed by diffusing dopant into the base region where the portion has been removed, with the base region separating the emitter and collector having reduced thickness due to the etching. Advantageously, the base region may be formed with a more heavily-doped region overlying a less heavily-doped region, with a part of the more heavily-doped region removed by etching, thereby providing a highly conductive path to the lower conductivity base region separating the emitter and collector regions. The process steps are compatible with conventional integrated-circuit fabrication processes.

Abstract: An improved method and structure for producing narrow openings to the surface of a first material possessing a first set of etch characteristics is disclosed. The method includes the step of forming on a portion of the surface of the first material an etchable mask having a first narrow-opening-forming lateral edge disposed along a selected edge of the to-be-formed narrow opening. A protective layer of a second material possessing a second set of etch characteristics is next formed on the exposed surface of the first material, the protective layer having a second narrow-opening-forming lateral edge juxtaposed the first narrow-opening-forming lateral edge. The first narrow-opening-forming lateral edge on the mask is then etched to expose unprotected areas of the first material thereby producing the narrow opening to the surface of the first material. The method and structure of the invention is particularly well suited for producing fine geometry patterns in solid state device structures.

Abstract: An improved circuit for a band gap voltage regulator is provided with a merged reference voltage source and error amplifier wherein the circuit operates simultaneously as a generator of the internal reference voltage as well as the small signal error amplifier for comparing a fraction of the output voltage to the reference voltage.

Abstract: An improved method for producing a plurality of closely-spaced altered regions in the surface of a first material possessing a first set of etch characteristics is disclosed. The method includes the steps of forming an etchable mask of a second material over a portion of the first material, which mask has a second set of etch characteristics and a lateral edge disposed along a selected edge of a first of the to-be-altered closely-spaced regions in the first material. A protective layer of a third material possessing a third set of etch characteristics is next formed on the exposed surface of the first material, the protective layer having a second lateral edge juxtaposed the first lateral edge. The first lateral edge of the mask is then etched to expose unprotected portions of the first material. The exposed unprotected portions of the first material are then altered by either etching or diffusion.

Abstract: A device for forming reference axes on an image sensor package containing an image sensor array. The device comprises an optical means having a reticle formed therein, a movable table located in a plane parallel with the plane of the optical means, a scribe mounted between the movable table and the optical means and movable in a direction parallel with the reticle.

Abstract: Thermoprocessing of integrated-circuit devices and ionizing radiation environments create electronic charges in dielectric isolation materials and in dielectric-semiconductor interface regions. These charges can produce serious alterations in the operating characteristics of the devices and integrated circuits. The deleterious effect of these charges may be greatly reduced by the disclosed process which produces a single-crystal silicon film dielectrically isolated from a polycrystalline silicon support by an underlying insulator of either silicon nitride or silicon dioxide, both of which may be grown by the process at selected locations on the same chip.