Patents Assigned to Micronics
  • Patent number: 9164373
    Abstract: The problem of mura in large area photomasks is solved or at least reduced by setting up a writing system to write a pattern with high accuracy and with the optical axes essentially parallel to the movement axes of the stage, then writing photomasks in two passes with the substrate rotated to different angles on the stage. The angle between the orientation of the first and second pass is larger than about 10 degrees, larger than about 20 degrees or larger than about 35 degrees and it can be approximately 10 degrees, approximately 50 degrees, approximately 60 degrees or approximately 90 degrees. The substrate is physically rotated on the stage and aligned with high accuracy after the rotation and the data driving the first and second exposure passes are derived from the first input data specification but processed according to the known oblique angles, so that the second pass is accurately overlaid on the first pass.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: Micronic Mydata AB
    Inventor: Torbjörn Sandström
  • Patent number: 9164149
    Abstract: This invention provide a testing device and method for a quantum battery by a semiconductor probe, whereby the electrical characteristics of the charging layer can be evaluated during the quantum battery manufacturing process. The testing device equipped with a semiconductor probe constituted by a conductive electrode and a metal oxide semiconductor layer including a metal oxide semiconductor which are laminated on a support, a source voltage for applying voltage across an electrode equipped to the semiconductor probe and a basic electrode laminated on a secondary battery charging layer, and an ammeter for measuring the current flowing between the electrode equipped on the semiconductor probe and the basic electrode of the secondary battery on which charging layer is laminated, and measures the current-voltage characteristics of the charging layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Nihon Micronics, Guala Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Harutada Dewa, Kiyoyasu Hiwada, Akira Nakazawa, Nobuaki Terakado
  • Patent number: 9164130
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a probe, includes forming a recess on a sacrificial layer with a resist matching a plane pattern of the probe and a fixing tab connected to the probe, the recess exposing the sacrificial layer, which is on a baseboard, forming the probe and the fixing tab connected to the probe by depositing a probe material in the recess, and removing the resist, removing a portion of the sacrificial layer in an etching process. The portion of the sacrificial layer under the probe is fully removed, while the portion of the sacrificial layer under the fixing tab is left to provide support portions of the sacrificial layer under the fixing tab. Then the probe is removed from the baseboard.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA NIHON MICRONICS
    Inventor: Mika Nasu
  • Patent number: 9146256
    Abstract: A probe assembly for inspecting power semiconductor devices, which includes a probe block having more than one probe holding hole, more than one probe, each of which is contained in one of the probe holding holes with its outer surface being in contact with the inner surface of the probe holding hole, and which has lower end protruding from the probe block and coming into contact with the power semiconductor device on inspection, and one or more cooling units which cool the probe block. According to the probe assembly and the inspection apparatus, it is possible to inspect characteristics of power semiconductor devices accurately by suppressing temperature rises of the probes as well as the power semiconductor device under test.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA NIHON MICRONICS
    Inventors: Katsuo Yasuta, Hikaru Masuta, Hideki Nei, Tatsuya Ishiwatari
  • Patent number: 9146246
    Abstract: Microfluidic cartridges for agglutination reactions are provided. The cartridges include a microfluidic reaction channel with at least two intake channels, one for an antigen-containing fluid and the other for an antibody-containing fluid, conjoined to a reaction channel modified by incorporation of a downstream flow control channel. At low Reynolds Number, the two input streams layer one on top of the other in the reaction channel and form a flowing, unmixed horizontally-stratified laminar fluid diffusion (HLFD) interface for an extended duration of reaction. Surprisingly, the design, surface properties, and flow regime of microfluidic circuits of the present invention potentiate detection of antibody mediated agglutination at the stratified interface. Antigen:antibody reactions involving agglutination potentiated by these devices are useful in blood typing, in crossmatching for blood transfusion, and in immunodiagnostic agglutination assays, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: Micronics, Inc.
    Inventors: C. Frederick Battrell, Diane Wierzbicki, John Clemmens, Jason Capodanno, John R. Williford, Carolina Elmufdi, Isaac Sprague
  • Patent number: 9146257
    Abstract: A contact probe electrically connects the tester side and an electrode pad of a circuit to be tested. This contact probe has a mounting portion on a base end portion mounted on a probe card, a contact portion on a distal end portion brought into contact with the electrode pad, and an arm portion between them elastically supporting the contact portion. The contact portion is provided on a lower end portion of a base portion integrally mounted on a distal end portion of the arm portion. The arm portion has a one-side arm piece supporting the base portion and allowing vertical movement of the base portion and the other-side arm piece supporting the base portion and adjusting an inclination angle of the base portion to reduce a scrub amount of the contact portion. The probe card uses the above-described contact probe.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Nihon Micronics
    Inventors: Masatomo Uebayashi, Akira Souma
  • Patent number: 9132423
    Abstract: A microfluidic cartridge and methods for performing a diagnostic, molecular or biochemical assay thereon, where all dried and/or liquid reagents necessary for the assay are contained in the cartridge and the assay requires only the addition of sample. Pneumohydraulic features, chamber and diaphragm technologies are introduced for overcoming the problems of bubble interference and reagent washout during operation of a microfluidic cartridge. The cartridges are inserted into a host instrument for performance of an assay and the cartridge is supplied as a consumable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: Micronics, Inc.
    Inventors: C. Frederick Battrell, Isaac Sprague, Matthew Scott Bragd, Jason Capodanno
  • Patent number: 9121869
    Abstract: Quality of connection portions between respective probes and respective wires in a probe assembly is improved. Also, time required for work for connection between the probes and the wires is shortened. Further, improper connection between the probes and the wires is eliminated. A probe assembly includes an electric insulating substrate, a plurality of probes supported on one surface of the substrate, a plurality of through holes provided in the substrate to respectively correspond to the plurality of probes and filled with a conductive material attached to the respective probes, and a plurality of conductive membranes formed on the other surface of the substrate and respectively attached to the conductive material in the plurality of through holes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Nihon Micronics
    Inventors: Satoshi Narita, Kenji Sasaki
  • Patent number: 9116174
    Abstract: An electrical connecting apparatus includes a wiring base plate having a first surface coupled with a reinforcing plate and provided on an opposite surface with first electrical connection portions, a probe base plate provided on a first surface with second electrical connection portions corresponding to the first electrical connection portions and provided on a second surface with probes electrically connected to the second electrical connection portions, anchor portions formed on the first surface of the probe base plate and provided with screw holes, cylindrical spacers having first ends removably coupled with the anchor portions, having screw grooves, and passing through the wiring base plate and the reinforcing plate, reference plates having reference planes to receive the spacers and removably coupled with the reinforcing plate, shims inserted between the respective reference plates and the reinforcing plate, and bolt screwed in the screw groove of the spacer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Nihon Micronics
    Inventor: Kentaro Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9116169
    Abstract: One plate-like member and the other plate-like member to be aligned with each other are provided with guide holes and guide portions to be received in the guide holes, respectively. The plate-like members are aligned appropriately, and in a state in which this alignment is held, the guide portions are formed on land portions provided on the other plate-like member so as to be aligned with the guide holes. Accordingly, regardless of presence/absence or size of a process error in the guide holes, the guide portions appropriate to the respective guide holes can be formed. Consequently, by aligning the guide portions with the guide holes, the plate-like members can be aligned appropriately without relative fine adjustment between the members.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Nihon Micronics
    Inventors: Tomokazu Saito, Seito Moriyama
  • Patent number: 9113546
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing an electric film body is made by forming a film body to have a shape in accordance with a desired electric characteristic and includes a film forming process for forming an electric film body on a board layer, an electric characteristic measuring process for measuring an electric characteristic in a surface of the electric film body formed in the film forming process, an electric film body shape setting process for setting a shape of the electric film body based on the electric characteristic measured in the electric characteristic measuring process, and an electric film body forming process for forming the electric film body formed in the shape set in the electric film body shape setting process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2015
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA NIHON MICRONICS
    Inventors: Takayasu Sugai, Noboru Otabe
  • Patent number: 9110098
    Abstract: Provided is a probe card capable of effectively placing electronic parts. A probe card according to the present invention includes a plurality of probes that come into contact with a plurality of electrodes of a device, a probe board including the plurality of probes provided thereon, a wiring board that is placed facing a surface of the probe board opposite to a surface including the probes provided thereon, a connector that includes a connection pin and a holder, in which the connection pin electrically connects a line of the probe board and a line of the wiring board, and the holder holds the connection pin between the probe board and the wiring board, and a first electronic part that is mounted on a probe board side surface of the wiring board and placed in a mounting space formed by a through hole or a recess provided in the holder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2015
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Nihon Micronics
    Inventors: Katsushi Mikuni, Yoshinori Kikuchi, Yoshihito Onuma, Toshiyuki Kudo
  • Patent number: 9097761
    Abstract: A plurality of chip stack devices having different external sizes can be tested accurately and efficiently with low cost. The present invention provides a chip stack device testing method testing a chip stack device configured by stacking a plurality of chips separated by dicing a substrate under test tested in a testing unit. A tray for chip stack devices having equal shape and external dimension to those of the undiced substrate under test is used, one or a plurality of the chip stack devices are attached and supported to an adhesive layer of the tray for chip stack devices to align the chip stack devices with positions of the respective chips of the undiced substrate under test, the tray for chip stack devices is installed in the testing unit in a similar manner to that in a test of the substrate under test, and the respective chip stack devices are tested.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2015
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA NIHON MICRONICS
    Inventors: Katsuo Yasuta, Yuji Miyagi
  • Patent number: 9090095
    Abstract: The technology disclosed relates to patterning of flexible substrate. One implementation can be applied for production of flexible displays and other electronic devices on flexible substrates. The substrate may be plastic film typically 50-150 microns thick and the size of the pattern features may typically be in the range 1-10 microns across. Larger and smaller structures are possible. The patterning is done by means of optical exposure, either by exposure of a photosensitive resist or lacquer, or by other thermal or photochemical interaction between the light and the substrate. The substrate may typically be loaded as a roll and after exposure and other processing it may be rolled up on a second output roll, so called roll-to-roll (R-to-R) processing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: Micronic Mydata AB
    Inventors: Torbjorn Sandstrom, Carl During
  • Patent number: 9095071
    Abstract: Provided is a method for manufacturing a multi-layer wiring board and the multi-layer wiring board that are capable of suppressing variation in resistance values. The method according to the present invention is the method for manufacturing a multi-layer wiring board. The method includes forming a resistor thin film, measuring resistance distribution of the resistor thin film, calculating resistor width adjustment rates of the plurality of resistors according to the resistance distribution, forming a pattern of a protective film on the resistor thin film, in which the pattern of the protective pattern has pattern width according to the resistor width adjustment rate, forming a pattern of a plating film on the resistor thin film at a position exposed from the protective film, and etching the resistor thin film at a position exposed from the plating film and the protective film so as to pattern the resistor thin film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2015
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA NIHON MICRONICS
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki Fukami, Toshinori Omori, Katsushi Mikuni, Noriko Kon
  • Patent number: 9079436
    Abstract: A movable BF guide is provided in a movable-blade receiving area into which a movable blade slides along a fixed blade while being pressed against the fixed blade in a process of cutting recording paper. The movable-blade receiving area is blocked by the BF guide when the cutting process is not performed, thus preventing the entry of the end portion of the downstream connected recording paper into the movable-blade receiving area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignee: STAR MICRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yuji Suzuki, Masaaki Morishita
  • Publication number: 20150192611
    Abstract: A testing device and method of a quantum battery by a semiconductor probe capable of evaluating electric characteristics of a charge layer in the middle of a production process of the quantum battery without damaging the charge layer. On semiconductor probe constituted by stacking electrode and metal oxide semiconductor on support body, and probe charge layer is formed of the same material as that of quantum battery and irradiated with ultraviolet rays. Forming probe charge layer of same material as that of quantum battery on semiconductor probe enables evaluation without damaging charge layer of the quantum battery. Testing device and method are provided which measure the charge/discharge characteristics of a charge layer in the middle of producing the quantum battery by a voltmeter and a constant current source or a discharge resistor by using the semiconductor probe including the probe charge layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2012
    Publication date: July 9, 2015
    Applicants: GUALA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., KABUSHIKI KAISHA NIHON MICRONICS
    Inventors: Harutada Dewa, Kiyoyasu Hiwada, Akira Nakazawa
  • Patent number: 9075083
    Abstract: An electrode and wiring can be provided on an FPC board without restriction by a through hole. A probe card in which an FPC board of a probe assembly is fixed to the main board side by a clamp mechanism is provided. The clamp mechanism is provided with a fixing ring fixed to the main board side and on which the FPC board is mounted and a rotating ring screwed into the fixing ring and pressing a peripheral edge portion of the FPC board. In the fixing ring, a pressing ring pressed by screwing of the rotating ring for pressing the peripheral edge portion of the FPC board to the main board side is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA NIHON MICRONICS
    Inventors: Yoshihito Onuma, Yoshihito Kitabatake, Ken Hasegawa, Takayuki Kogawa
  • Patent number: 9069008
    Abstract: An inspection apparatus is provided, which includes probes for front side electrodes, probes for back side electrodes, and a chuck stage. The probes for front side electrodes and the probes for back side electrodes are formed on the upper surface of the chuck stage, and the probe contact area electrically continues to the wafer holding area, and the probes for front side electrodes and the probes for back side electrodes are located leaving a distance in horizontal direction between them so that the probes for back side electrodes move relatively within the probe contact area when the probes for front side electrodes are moved relatively within the wafer under test by the movement of the chuck stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA NIHON MICRONICS
    Inventors: Katsuo Yasuta, Hikaru Masuta, Hideki Nei
  • Patent number: 9056291
    Abstract: A compact device for operatively coupling a solid planar substrate, for example a glass slide, to a microfluidic circuit and performing a reaction or reactions on organic matter bound to the face of the planar substrate. Typical reactions include binding, staining and/or labeling reactions. In use, a sealed reaction chamber is formed, the chamber enclosing the organic matter and at least a part of the solid substrate. Headspace in the sealed chamber between the solid substrate is generally of microfluidic dimensions, and diaphragm pump members are used to inject, exchange and/or mix the fluids in the chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2015
    Assignee: Micronics, Inc.
    Inventors: C. Frederick Battrell, John Clemmens, Isaac Sprague