Patents Assigned to IMEC
  • Publication number: 20190175018
    Abstract: A system for sensing a parameter of a living being may comprise a thin film transistor (TFT) unit being configured for attachment to a body part of the living being. The TFT unit may comprise at least one sensor with associated sensor circuitry for sensing the parameter of the living being. The system may further comprise an electronic unit, wherein the electronic unit and the TFT unit are configured for (i) detachably physically connecting the electronic unit to the TFT unit or (ii) arranging the electronic unit on the body part in physical contact with the TFT unit, and wherein the TFT unit and the electronic unit interface over a wireless contact for powering the TFT unit by the electronic unit and for communicating sensing results from the TFT unit to the electronic unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 5, 2018
    Publication date: June 13, 2019
    Applicants: IMEC VZW, Stichting IMEC Nederland
    Inventors: Salvatore Polito, Kris Myny
  • Patent number: 10312083
    Abstract: An example embodiment includes method for forming a layer of a Group III-Nitride material. The method includes providing a substrate having a main surface comprising a layer of a first Group III-nitride material. The substrate further includes, on the main surface, a dielectric layer comprising an opening exposing the first Group III-nitride material. A thermal treatment process is performed while subjecting the substrate to a gas mixture comprising a nitrogen containing gas, thereby increasing temperature of the substrate up to a temperature for growing a layer of a second Group III-nitride material. At least one Group III-metal organic precursor gas is subsequently introduced into the gas mixture at the growth temperature, thereby forming, at least in the opening on the exposed Group III-nitride material, a layer of the second Group III-nitride material by selective epitaxial growth, characterized in that the gas mixture is free of hydrogen gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: IMEC VZW
    Inventors: Hu Liang, Yoganand Saripalli
  • Patent number: 10309925
    Abstract: The disclosed technology relates generally to semiconductor devices, and more particularly to semiconductor devices such as field-effect transistor devices configured for biomolecule sensing. In one aspect, a semiconductor chip comprises at least one field-effect transistor device which comprises a source, a drain, a gate stack and a channel region formed between the source and the drain. The gate stack only partially overlaps the channel region at the source side and/or at the drain side, such that a non-overlapped channel region at the source side and/or at the drain side is formed, where the non-overlapped channel region is configured for sensing biomolecules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignee: IMEC vzw
    Inventors: Nadine Collaert, Voon Yew Thean
  • Patent number: 10313198
    Abstract: A method for enabling restoration of an operational state on a server node is disclosed. The method includes intercepting, by a state directory, traffic between the server node and a client communicably connected to the server node over a network to derive the operational state. At least a part of the traffic between the server node and the client leads to establishment of the operational state on the server node. The method further includes storing the operational state in the state directory, detecting, by the state directory, that the server node has lost the operational state, and providing, by the state directory, the operational state to the server node after detecting that the server node has lost the operational state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignees: KONINKLIJKE KPN N.V., IMEC VZW, UNIVERSITEIT GENT
    Inventors: Floris Van Den Abeele, Jeroen Hoebeke
  • Publication number: 20190164845
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to the technical field of semiconductor processes, and discloses a semiconductor device and a manufacturing method therefor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2019
    Publication date: May 30, 2019
    Applicants: Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Shangha i) Corporation, SMIC Advanced Technology Research & Development (S hanghai) Corporation, IMEC International
    Inventors: Hai Zhao, Yang Liu, Gang Mao, Cheng-Jui Yang, Yongmeng Lee, Shaofeng Yu
  • Patent number: 10303048
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a patterned structure, the structure comprising: i) a substrate, ii) a first layer on top of the substrate, comprising a filler material and a guiding material, wherein at least a top surface of the first layer comprises one or more zones of filler material and one or more zones of guiding material, and iii) a second layer on top of the first layer comprising a pattern of a first material, the pattern being either aligned or anti-aligned with the underlying one or more zones of guiding material; wherein the first material comprises a metal or a ceramic material and wherein the guiding material and the filler material either both comprise or both do not comprise the metal or ceramic material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignees: IMEC VZW, KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN, KU LEUVEN R&D
    Inventors: Boon Teik Chan, Arjun Singh, Safak Sayan
  • Patent number: 10295451
    Abstract: A device for extracting at least one object characteristic of an object (106) is presented, the device comprising: a light sensor (101) for recording a hologram of an object and a processing unit (102) coupled to the light sensor and configured for extracting at least one object characteristic from the hologram; wherein the processing unit is configured for extracting the at least one object characteristic from a section of the hologram without reconstructing an image representation of the object. Further, a device (200) for sorting an object (106), a method for identifying an object and a method for sorting objects is presented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 21, 2019
    Assignees: IMEC VZW, UNIVERSITEIT GENT
    Inventors: Bendix Schneider, Peter Bienstman, Joni Dambre, Geert Vanmeerbeeck, Liesbet Lagae
  • Patent number: 10281328
    Abstract: Provided are a Bragg grating and a spectroscopy device including the same. The Bragg grating is disposed at each of opposite ends of a resonator for reflecting light of a certain wavelength band and includes a core member extending from a waveguide of the resonator in a lengthwise direction of the waveguide; a plurality of first refractive members protruding from the core member and spaced apart from each other along the lengthwise direction; and a second refractive member filling spaces between the first refractive members and having a refractive index different from a refractive index of the first refractive members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignees: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., IMEC VZW
    Inventors: Dongho Kim, Jeonghwan Song
  • Patent number: 10284224
    Abstract: A system for compressed sensing comprising: a compressive sampling module configured for providing a CS-sampled signal and a signal reconstruction module configured for receiving and allocating a first plurality of measurement windows comprising a number of samples from the CS-sampled signal, calculating a corresponding first plurality of reconstruction windows based on the first plurality of measurement windows and calculating a first version of a reconstructed signal based on the first plurality of reconstruction windows.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 7, 2019
    Assignees: IMEC VZW, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, KU LEUVEN R&D
    Inventor: Venkata Rajesh Pamula
  • Patent number: 10274551
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a magnetometer sensor with negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. One example embodiment is a magnetometer sensor. The magnetometer sensor includes a diamond crystal with one or more negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers. The magnetometer sensor also includes one or more light sources. Further, the magnetometer sensor includes an electrode. In addition, the magnetometer sensor includes a read-out module. The read-out module includes a read-out circuit configured to read-out a photocurrent from the electrode and a lock-in amplifier. The lock-in amplifier includes a first input, a second input, and an output. The magnetometer sensor additionally includes a microwave source configured to apply a microwave field to the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy centers. The microwave source includes a microwave generator for generating continuous wave microwaves and a microwave modulator configured to modulate the continuous wave microwaves.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignees: IMEC VZW, UNIVERSITEIT HASSELT
    Inventors: Jaroslav Hruby, Emilie Bourgeois, Milos Nesladek, Ward De Ceuninck
  • Patent number: 10271796
    Abstract: A method is disclosed for packaging a device, e.g., for bio-medical applications. In one aspect, the method includes obtaining a component on a substrate and separating the component and a first part of the substrate from a second part of the substrate using at least one physical process inducing at least one sloped side wall on the first part of the substrate. The method also includes providing an encapsulation for the chip. The resulting packaged chip advantageously has a good step coverage resulting in a good hermeticity, less sharp edges resulting in a reduced risk of damaging or infection after implantation and has a relatively small packaged volume compared to conventional big box packaging techniques.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: IMEC
    Inventors: Maria Op De Beeck, Eric Beyne, Philippe Soussan
  • Patent number: 10274452
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a semiconductor device for stimulation and/or data recording of biological material to a such semiconductor device. The method comprises providing a semiconductor substrate comprising a first insulating layer; providing a patterned conductive layer on top of the first insulating layer; depositing and patterning a second insulating layer atop the patterned conductive layer; growing carbon nano-sheets atop the second insulating layer; and defining carbon nano-sheet electrode areas on the second insulating layer by etching away the carbon nano-sheets outside of the carbon nano-sheet electrode areas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignees: IMEC, KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN, K.U. LEUVEN R&D
    Inventors: Nadine Collaert, Daire J. Cott, Michael De Volder
  • Patent number: 10269402
    Abstract: A solid-state device configured to generate an electric signal indicative of a presence or an absence of a magnetic topological soliton is disclosed. The solid-state device includes a storage element configured to store a magnetic topological soliton. The storage element includes a topological insulator. The storage element also includes a magnetic strip arranged on the topological insulator. The solid-state device also includes a magnetic topological soliton detector configured to generate the electric signal indicative of the presence or the absence of the magnetic topological soliton in a detection region of the storage element. The magnetic topological soliton detector is adapted for detecting a spin-independent difference in tunneling amplitude, a difference in electrical resistance, or a difference in electrical conductivity through the topological insulator in the detection region due to the presence or the absence of the magnetic topological soliton in the detection region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignees: IMEC VZW, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, KU LEUVEN R&D
    Inventors: Dimitrios Andrikopoulos, Bart Soree
  • Patent number: 10267998
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein relate to an imaging device, a method for imaging an object, and a photonic integrated circuit. The imaging device includes at least one photonic integrated circuit. The photonic integrated circuit includes an integrated waveguide for guiding a light signal. The photonic integrated circuit also includes a light coupler optically coupled to the integrated waveguide. The light coupler is adapted for directing the light signal out of a plane of the integrated waveguide as a light beam. The imaging device also includes a microfluidic channel for containing an object immersed in a fluid medium. The microfluidic channel is configured to enable, in operation of the imaging device, illumination of the object by the light beam. In addition, the imaging device includes at least one imaging detector positioned for imaging the object illuminated by the light beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: IMEC VZW
    Inventors: Dries Vercruysse, Pol Van Dorpe, Xavier Rottenberg, Tom Claes, Richard Stahl
  • Patent number: 10269929
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method of forming an internal spacer between nanowires in a semiconductor device. The method includes providing a semiconductor structure comprising at least one fin. The at least one fin is comprised of a stack of layers of sacrificial material alternated with layers of nanowire material. The semiconductor structure is comprised of a dummy gate which partly covers the stack of layers of the at least one fin. The method also includes removing at least the sacrificial material next to the dummy gate and oxidizing the sacrificial material and the nanowire material next to the dummy gate. This removal results, respectively, in a spacer oxide and in a nanowire oxide. Additionally, the method includes removing the nanowire oxide until at least a part of the spacer oxide is remaining, wherein the remaining spacer oxide is the internal spacer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: IMEC VZW
    Inventors: Kurt Wostyn, Liesbeth Witters, Hans Mertens
  • Patent number: 10267733
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to semiconductor devices for detecting fluorescent particles. At least one embodiment relates to an integrated semiconductor device for detecting fluorescent tags. The device includes a first layer, a second layer, a third layer, a fourth layer, and a fifth layer. The first layer includes a detector element. The second layer includes a rejection filter. The third layer is fabricated from dielectric material. The fourth layer is an optical waveguide configured and positioned such that a top surface of the fourth layer is illuminated with an evanescent tail of excitation light guided by the optical waveguide when the fluorescent tags are present. The fifth layer includes a microfluidic channel. The optical waveguide is configured and positioned such that the microfluidic channel is illuminated with the evanescent tail. The detector element is positioned such that light from activated fluorescent tags can be received.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: IMEC VZW
    Inventors: Pol Van Dorpe, Liesbet Lagae, Peter Peumans, Andim Stassen, Philippe Helin, Bert Du Bois, Simone Severi
  • Patent number: 10262896
    Abstract: A use of an amine-containing silane for forming a transition metal nitride is provided. In this use, the amine of the amine-containing silane is the source of at least some, preferably most and most preferably all of the nitrogen present in the transition metal nitride.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: IMEC VZW
    Inventor: Silvia Armini
  • Patent number: 10260945
    Abstract: An integrated circuit for an imaging system is disclosed. In one aspect, an integrated circuit has an array of optical sensors, an array of optical filters integrated with the sensors and configured to pass a band of wavelengths onto one or more of the sensors, and read out circuitry to read out pixel values from the sensors to represent an image. Different ones of the optical filters are configured to have a different thickness, to pass different bands of wavelengths by means of interference, and to allow detection of a spectrum of wavelengths. The read out circuitry can enable multiple pixels under one optical filter to be read out in parallel. The thicknesses may vary non-monotonically across the array. The read out, or later image processing, may involve selection or interpolation between wavelengths, to carry out spectral sampling or shifting, to compensate for thickness errors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: IMEC
    Inventors: Nicolaas Tack, Andy Lambrechts, Luc Haspeslagh
  • Patent number: 10263069
    Abstract: The present disclosure is related to a III-Nitride semiconductor device comprising a base substrate, a buffer layer, a channel layer, a barrier layer so that a 2-dimensional charge carrier gas is formed or can be formed near the interface between the channel layer and the barrier layer, and at least one set of a first and second electrode in electrical contact with the 2-dimensional charge carrier gas, wherein the device further comprises a mobile charge layer (MCL) within the buffer layer or near the interface between the buffer layer and the channel layer, when the device is in the on-state. The device further comprises an electrically conductive path between one of the electrodes and the mobile charge layer. The present disclosure is also related to a method for producing a device according to the present disclosure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignee: IMEC VZW
    Inventors: Steve Stoffels, Yoganand Saripalli
  • Patent number: 10256403
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates generally to Hf-comprising materials for use in, for example, the insulator of a RRAM device, and to methods for making such materials. In one aspect, the disclosure provides a method for the manufacture of a layer of material over a substrate, said method including a) providing a substrate, and b) depositing a layer of material on said substrate via ALD at a temperature of from 250 to 500° C., said depositing step comprising: at least one HfX4 pulse, and at least one trimethyl-aluminum (TMA) pulse, wherein X is a halogen selected from Cl, Br, I and F and is preferably Cl.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: IMEC
    Inventors: Christoph Adelmann, Malgorzata Jurczak