Patents Assigned to Sandia
  • Patent number: 5838435
    Abstract: Calibration spots of optically-characterized material placed in the field of view of a spectroscopic system allow calibration of the spectroscopic system. Response from the calibration spots is measured and used to calibrate for varying spectroscopic system operating parameters. The accurate calibration achieved allows quantitative spectroscopic analysis of responses taken at different times, different excitation conditions, and of different targets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventor: David R. Sandison
  • Patent number: 5836203
    Abstract: A non-piezoelectric flexural plate wave apparatus having meander-line transducers mounted on a non-piezoelectric membrane. A static magnetic field is directed perpendicularly to the conductive legs of the transducers in the plane of the membrane. Single-port, two-port, resonant, non-resonant, eigenmode, and delay-line modes may be employed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 17, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen J. Martin, Michael A. Butler, Gregory C. Frye, James H. Smith
  • Patent number: 5834627
    Abstract: A combustible gas sensor that uses a resistively heated, noble metal-coated, micromachined polycrystalline Si filament to calorimetrically detect the presence and concentration of combustible gases. The filaments tested to date are 2 .mu.m thick.times.10 .mu.m wide.times.100, 250, 500, or 1000 .mu.m-long polycrystalline Si; some are overcoated with a 0.25 .mu.m-thick protective CVD Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 layer. A thin catalytic Pt film was deposited by CVD from the precursor Pt(acac).sub.2 onto microfilaments resistively heated to approximately 500.degree. C.; Pt deposits only on the hot filament. Using a constant-resistance-mode feedback circuit, Pt-coated filaments operating at ca. 300.degree. C. (35 mW input power) respond linearly, in terms of the change in supply current required to maintain constant resistance (temperature), to H.sub.2 concentrations between 100 ppm and 1% in an 80/20 N.sub.2 /O.sub.2 mixture. Other catalytic materials can also be used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 10, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Antonio J. Ricco, Robert C. Hughes, James H. Smith, Daniel J. Moreno, Ronald P. Manginell, Stephen D. Senturia, Robert J. Huber
  • Patent number: 5830575
    Abstract: An electrically written memory element utilizing the motion of protons within a dielectric layer surrounded by layers on either side to confine the protons within the dielectric layer with electrode means attached to the surrounding layers to change the spatial position of the protons within the dielectric layer. The device is preferably constructed as a silicon-silicon dioxide-silicon layered structure with the protons being introduced to the structure laterally through the exposed edges of the silicon dioxide layer during a high temperature anneal in an atmosphere containing hydrogen gas. The device operates at low power, is preferably nonvolatile, is radiation tolerant, and is compatible with convention silicon MOS processing for integration with other microelectronic elements on the same silicon substrate. With the addition of an optically active layer, the memory element becomes an electrically written, optically read optical memory element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia National Laboratories
    Inventors: William L. Warren, Karel J. R. Vanheusden, Daniel M. Fleetwood, Roderick A. B. Devine
  • Patent number: 5832089
    Abstract: An off-line electronic cash system having an electronic coin, a bank B, a payee S, and a user U with an account at the bank B as well as a user password z.sub.u,i, has a method for performing an electronic cash transfer. An electronic coin is withdrawn from the bank B by the user U and an electronic record of the electronic coin is stored by the bank B. The coin is paid to the payee S by the user U. The payee S deposits the coin with the bank B. A determination is made that the coin is spent and the record of the coin is deleted by the bank B. A further deposit of the same coin after the record is deleted is determined. Additionally, a determination is made which user U originally withdrew the coin after deleting the record. To perform these operations a key pair is generated by the user, including public and secret signature keys. The public signature key along with a user password z.sub.u,i and a withdrawal amount are sent to the bank B by the user U.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 1995
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: David W. Kravitz, Peter S. Gemmell, Ernest F. Brickell
  • Patent number: 5827951
    Abstract: A new test method to quantify capillary flow solderability on a printed wiring board surface finish. The test is based on solder flow from a pad onto narrow strips or lines. A test procedure and video image analysis technique were developed for conducting the test and evaluating the data. Feasibility tests revealed that the wetted distance was sensitive to the ratio of pad radius to line width (l/r), solder volume, and flux predry time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 21, 1995
    Date of Patent: October 27, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia National Laboratories
    Inventors: Fred Yost, Floyd M. Hosking, James L. Jellison, Bruce Short, Terri Giversen, Jimmy R. Reed
  • Patent number: 5827952
    Abstract: Acoustic-wave sensor apparatus and method for analyzing a normally liquid petroleum-based composition for monitoring deposition-point temperature. The apparatus includes at least one acoustic-wave device such as SAW, QCM, FPM, TSM or APM type devices in contact with the petroleum-based composition for sensing or detecting the surface temperature at which deposition occurs and/or rate of deposition as a function of temperature by sensing an accompanying change in frequency, phase shift, damping voltage or damping current of an electrical oscillator to a known calibrated condition. The acoustic wave device is actively cooled to monitor the deposition of constituents such as paraffins by determining the point at which solids from the liquid composition begin to form on the acoustic wave device. The acoustic wave device can be heated to melt or boil off the deposits to reset the monitor and the process can be repeated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 1997
    Date of Patent: October 27, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia National Laboratories
    Inventors: Arthur J. Mansure, James J. Spates, Stephen J. Martin
  • Patent number: 5825049
    Abstract: A double electron layer tunneling device is presented. Electrons tunnel from a two dimensional emitter layer to a two dimensional tunneling layer and continue traveling to a collector at a lower voltage. The emitter layer is interrupted by an isolation etch, a depletion gate, or an ion implant to prevent electrons from traveling from the source along the emitter to the drain. The collector is similarly interrupted by a backgate, an isolation etch, or an ion implant. When the device is used as a transistor, a control gate is added to control the allowed energy states of the emitter layer. The tunnel gate may be recessed to change the operating range of the device and allow for integrated complementary devices. Methods of forming the device are also set forth, utilizing epoxy-bond and stop etch (EBASE), pre-growth implantation of the backgate or post-growth implantation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Jerry A. Simmons, Marc E. Sherwin, Timothy J. Drummond, Mark V. Weckwerth
  • Patent number: 5823261
    Abstract: An improved well-pump for geothermal wells, an alignment system for a well-pump, and to a method for aligning a rotor and stator within a well-pump, wherein the well-pump has a whistle assembly formed at a bottom portion thereof, such that variations in the frequency of the whistle, indicating misalignment, may be monitored during pumping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventor: Douglas S. Drumheller
  • Patent number: 5823567
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for making an inflatable protective device made of lightweight material that can withstand the initial stress from inflation and enhance radial inflation. The device includes a cushion and an inflator port.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1998
    Assignees: Precision Fabrics Group, Inc., Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Vance L. Behr, James M. Nelsen, Kenneth W. Gwinn
  • Patent number: 5820922
    Abstract: A combustible gas sensor that uses a resistively heated, noble metal-coated, micromachined polycrystalline Si filament to calorimetrically detect the presence and concentration of combustible gases. A thin catalytic Pt film was deposited by CVD from the precursor Pt(acac).sub.2 onto microfilaments resistively heated to approximately 500 .degree. C.; Pt deposits only on the hot filament. The filaments tested to date are 2 .mu.m thick .times.10 .mu.m wide .times.100, 250, 500, or 1000 .mu.m-long polycrystalline Si; some are overcoated with a 0.25 .mu.m-thick protective CVD Si.sub.3 N.sub.4 layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Antonio J. Ricco, Ronald P. Manginell, Robert J. Huber
  • Patent number: 5820989
    Abstract: A glass ceramic composition, a glass ceramic-to-metal seal, and more specifically a hermetic glass ceramic-to-metal seal prepared by subjecting a glass composition comprising, by weight percent, SiO.sub.2 (65-80%), LiO.sub.2 (8-16%), Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 (2-8%), K.sub.2 O (1-8%), P.sub.2 O.sub.5 (1-5%), B.sub.2 O.sub.3 (0.5-7%), and ZnO (0-5%) to the following processing steps: 1) heating the glass composition in a belt furnace to a temperature sufficient to melt the glass and crystallize lithium phosphate, 2) holding at a temperature and for a time sufficient to create cristobalite nuclei, 3) cooling at a controlled rate and to a temperature to cause crystallization of lithium silicates and growth of cristobalite, and 4) still further cooling in stages to ambient temperature. This process produces a glass ceramic whose high coefficient of thermal expansion (up to 200.times.10.sup.-7 in/in/.degree.C.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Scott T. Reed, Ronald G. Stone, Howard L. McCollister, Paul R. Wengert, deceased
  • Patent number: 5821680
    Abstract: A multi-layer resistive carbon film field emitter device for cold cathode field emission applications. The multi-layered film of the present invention consists of at least two layers of a conductive carbon material, preferably amorphous-tetrahedrally coordinated carbon, where the resistivities of adjacent layers differ. For electron emission from the surface, the preferred structure can be a top layer having a lower resistivity than the bottom layer. For edge emitting structures, the preferred structure of the film can be a plurality of carbon layers, where adjacent layers have different resistivities. Through selection of deposition conditions, including the energy of the depositing carbon species, the presence or absence of certain elements such as H, N, inert gases or boron, carbon layers having desired resistivities can be produced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 17, 1996
    Date of Patent: October 13, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: John P. Sullivan, Thomas A. Friedmann
  • Patent number: 5814238
    Abstract: A method for dry etching of transition metals. The method for dry etching of a transition metal (or a transition metal alloy such as a silicide) on a substrate comprises providing at least one nitrogen- or phosphorous-containing .pi.-acceptor ligand in proximity to the transition metal, and etching the transition metal to form a volatile transition metal/.pi.-acceptor ligand complex. The dry etching may be performed in a plasma etching system such as a reactive ion etching (RIE) system, a downstream plasma etching system (i.e. a plasma afterglow), a chemically-assisted ion beam etching (CAIBE) system or the like. The dry etching may also be performed by generating the .pi.-acceptor ligands directly from a ligand source gas (e.g. nitrosyl ligands generated from nitric oxide), or from contact with energized particles such as photons, electrons, ions, atoms, or molecules.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 29, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Carol I. H. Ashby, Albert G. Baca, Peter Esherick, John E. Parmeter, Dennis J. Rieger, Randy J. Shul
  • Patent number: 5814525
    Abstract: A piezoelectric biosensor substrate useful for immobilizing biomolecules in an oriented manner on the surface of a piezoelectric sensor has a ladder polymer of polyacrylonitrile. To make the substrate, a solution of an organic polymer, preferably polyacrylonitrile, is applied to the surface of a piezoelectric sensor. The organic polymer is modifying by heating the polymer in a controlled fashion in air such that a ladder polymer is produced which, in turn, forms the attachment point for the biomolecules comprising the piezoelectric biosensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 29, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Clifford L. Renschler, Christine A. White, Robert M. Carter
  • Patent number: 5814245
    Abstract: Blue, quantum-confined phosphors for field-emission displays made by reducing metal (M) sulfoaluminates at high temperature. This yields phases of the type M.sub.4 (AlO.sub.2).sub.6 S. Bulk sulfide contaminant mixed with the reduced sulfoaluminate phase is removed by treating it with a chelating agent in nonaqueous solution. A photometric cathodoluminescence efficiency of 9 lumen/watt at 1000 V for Sr.sub.3 PbS(AlO.sub.2).sub.6 is observed. Undoped Sr.sub.4 S(AlO).sub.6 displays 5 lumen/watt at 1000 V, with excellent blue chromatic saturation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 1997
    Date of Patent: September 29, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Mark L. F. Phillips, Lauren E. Shea
  • Patent number: 5814370
    Abstract: A dried gel material sterically entrapping nanoclusters of a catalytically active material and a process to make the material via an inverse micelle/sol-gel synthesis. A surfactant is mixed with an apolar solvent to form an inverse micelle solution. A salt of a catalytically active material, such as gold chloride, is added along with a silica gel precursor to the solution to form a mixture. To the mixture are then added a reducing agent for the purpose of reducing the gold in the gold chloride to atomic gold to form the nanoclusters and a condensing agent to form the gel which sterically entraps the nanoclusters. The nanoclusters are normally in the average size range of from 5-10 nm in diameter with a monodisperse size distribution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 29, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Anthony Martino, Stacey A. Yamanaka, Jeffrey S. Kawola, Steven K. Showalter, Douglas A. Loy
  • Patent number: 5806521
    Abstract: An imaging apparatus and method for use in presenting composite two dimensional and three dimensional images from individual ultrasonic frames. A cross-sectional reconstruction is applied by using digital ultrasound frames, transducer orientation and a known center. Motion compensation, rank value filtering, noise suppression and tissue classification are utilized to optimize the composite image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 15, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Alan K. Morimoto, Wallace J. Bow, Jr., David Scott Strong, Fred M. Dickey
  • Patent number: 5805365
    Abstract: A projection lithography camera is presented with a wide ringfield optimized so as to make efficient use of extreme ultraviolet radiation from a large area radiation source (e.g., D.sub.source .apprxeq.0.5 mm). The camera comprises four aspheric mirrors optically arranged on a common axis of symmetry with an increased etendue for the camera system. The camera includes an aperture stop that is accessible through a plurality of partial aperture stops to synthesize the theoretical aperture stop. Radiation from a mask is focused to form a reduced image on a wafer, relative to the mask, by reflection from the four aspheric mirrors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 1995
    Date of Patent: September 8, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventor: William C. Sweatt
  • Patent number: 5804815
    Abstract: A high gain, optically triggered, photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) implemented in GaAs as a reverse-biased pin structure with a passivation layer above the intrinsic GaAs substrate in the gap between the two electrodes of the device. The reverse-biased configuration in combination with the addition of the passivation layer greatly reduces surface current leakage that has been a problem for prior PCSS devices and enables employment of the much less expensive and more reliable DC charging systems instead of the pulsed charging systems that needed to be used with prior PCSS devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 8, 1998
    Assignee: Sandia Corporation
    Inventors: Guillermo M. Loubriel, Albert G. Baca, Fred J. Zutavern