Patents Examined by Bruce Anderson
  • Patent number: 6541784
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide an electron beam drawing apparatus and a drawing method using an electron beam capable of reducing a correction error of proximity effect correction without adding a special circuit or a memory and capable of preventing thinning or thickening of a pattern arranged at a vicinity of an edge of a pattern having a high density from being caused.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2003
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hajime Kawano, Haruo Yoda
  • Patent number: 6541765
    Abstract: A time-of-flight mass spectrometer for measuring the mass-to-charge ratio of a sample molecule is described. The spectrometer provides independent control of the electric field experienced by the sample before and during ion extraction. Methods of mass spectrometry utilizing the principles of this invention reduce matrix background, induce fast fragmentation, and control the transfer of energy prior to ion extraction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2003
    Assignee: PerSeptive Biosystems, Inc.
    Inventor: Marvin L. Vestal
  • Patent number: 6542233
    Abstract: An inexpensive broadband source such as an ASE source, used for erbium amplifier measurements, compares well with the use of a prior art ITU grid. Deltas are less than 0.4 and 0.3 dB for gain and noise figure respectively. The spectral loading used to test erbium amplifiers needs to closely resemble conditions seen in the field. Use of an ITU grid is a good way of achieving this, however it is a costly solution and may restrict the spectral resolution. Use of a high power amplified spontaneous emission source gives a cost-effective alternative, which compares well with ITU grid measurements. In addition the spectral resolution of the measurement is then only limited by the spectral resolution of the optical spectrum analyzer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 4, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2003
    Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited
    Inventors: Mark E Bray, Ross T Elliott, Kevan P Jones, Robert W Keys
  • Patent number: 6541771
    Abstract: A secondary electron signal obtained from a specimen when the specimen is scanned with an electron beam is detected by a detector and a specimen image is displayed on a first display screen area of an image display unit on the basis of the detected signal. The specimen image is stored, as an image for observation position designation, in a storage unit together with a position of the image. A plurality of images at different positions on the specimen may be used as the image to be stored. One of the stored images is selected and read and displayed on a second display screen area. When a part of interest on the displayed image for observation position designation is selected, the specimen is horizontally moved so that a position of the part of interest may be positioned at the center of the first display screen area and an enlarged image of the part of interest may be displayed on the first display screen area. This facilitates view field search outside a view field range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2001
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2003
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuko Iwabuchi, Mitsugu Sato
  • Patent number: 6541766
    Abstract: It is intended to prevent occurrence of random noise in an ion trap mass spectrometer with an electron impact (EI) ion source during mass analyzing. Specifically, two gates are placed between a filament and an end cap electrode. Positive or negative voltage is applied to the two electrodes in such a manner as to prevent both ions and electrons from entering an ion trap region in a mass analyzing step. This eliminates random noise on a mass spectrum, thereby allowing mass spectrum measurement of smaller quantities of components. It also eliminates noise on a chromatogram, thus allowing quantitative analysis of smaller quantities of components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2003
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventor: Yoshiaki Kato
  • Patent number: 6541782
    Abstract: An electron beam photolithographic process for patterning an insulation layer over a substrate. A conductive photoresist layer having a conjugate structure is formed over the insulation layer. An electron beam photolithographic process is conducted using a photomask so that the pattern on the photomask is transferred to the conductive photoresist layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2003
    Assignee: United Microelectronics Copr.
    Inventors: I-Hsiung Huang, Jiunn-Ren Hwang
  • Patent number: 6534765
    Abstract: There is provided a method of, and apparatus for, analyzing a sample of an analyte provided as a sample solution comprising a solvent and an analyte. A dopant is provided, either separately or as the solvent of the sample solution. The sample solution is formed into a spray, for example in a nebulizer, and the solvent evaporated. The sample stream is irradiated in a region at atmospheric pressure, either in the liquid state prior to formation of a spray, or in the liquid state after formation of a droplet spray, or in the vapour state after evaporation of the sprayed droplets, to ionize the dopant. Then, subsequent collisions between the ionized dopant and the analyte, either directly or indirectly, result in ionization of the analyte. Analyte ions are passed from the atmospheric pressure ionization region into a mass analyzer for mass analysis. This technique has been found to give much enhanced ionization for some substances, as compared to atmospheric pressure chemical ionization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2003
    Assignee: MDS Inc.
    Inventors: Damon B. Robb, Andries Pieter Bruins
  • Patent number: 6534766
    Abstract: A charged particle beam system comprising a charged beam source, a condenser lens, a scanning deflecting device, an objective lens and a secondary electron detector further comprises a slant observing deflecting device arranged between the objective lens and a sample. The slant observing deflecting device deflects charged particle beams immediately before the surface of the sample, to cause the charged particle beams to be slantingly incident on the sample. The deflection angle of the charged particle beams is controlled by a DC current component which is inputted to the slant observing deflecting device. The irradiation position shift of the charged particle beams due to the slant deflection is corrected and controlled by feeding an input value of the slant observing deflecting device and the slant angle of the charged particle beams back to the input value of the scanning deflecting device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2003
    Assignees: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon
    Inventors: Hideaki Abe, Yuichiro Yamazaki, Kazuyoshi Sugihara, Masahiro Inoue
  • Patent number: 6534425
    Abstract: A photolithography reticle for use in conjunction with an exposure tool to produce a tapered sidewall profile in photoresist includes a solid portion and multiple sub-resolution line portions. The solid portion has a width which is greater than a resolution of the exposure tool. The sub-resolution line portions have widths which are less than the resolution of the exposure tool. Each of the sub-resolution line portions is spaced apart from the solid portion and from the others of the plurality of sub-resolution line portions by less than the resolution of the exposure tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2003
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Brian W. Karr, Lance E. Stover, Jianxin Zhu
  • Patent number: 6534775
    Abstract: A system for inhibiting the transport of contaminant particles with an ion beam includes a pair of electrodes that provide opposite electric fields through which the ion beam travels. A particle entrained in the ion beam is charged to a polarity matching the polarity of ion beam when traveling through a first of the electric fields. The downstream electrode provides another electric field for repelling the positively charged particle away from the direction of beam travel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2003
    Assignee: Axcelis Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric R. Harrington, Victor M. Benveniste, Michael A. Graf, Robert D. Rathmell
  • Patent number: 6531705
    Abstract: A container for storing and transporting device containing radioactive materials used for medical procedures is disclosed. Such devices may include a radioactive shielding material which contains a portion of the radioactivity emitted by the radioactive material. The container has an upper portion and a lower portion, and at least one of the portions includes a radiation shielding material, such as lead, steel or other appropriate shielding materials. Devices containing radioactive material are placed within the container. The container secures the devices against lateral movement within the container. The radiation shielding material of the lower portion of the container may cooperate with the radiation shielding material of the device to contain more of the emitted radiation than is contained by the device alone. The container and the holder may be sterilizable to allow such devices to be transported and sterilized for medical use.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2003
    Assignee: Theragenics Corporation
    Inventors: Jack C. White, Joseph J. Rodgers, Glenn A. Dill, Mary Christine Jacobs
  • Patent number: 6531698
    Abstract: The invention relates to a particle-optic illuminating and imaging system with a condenser-objective single field lens (5) and a simple illuminating system which has only two condenser lenses (3, 4). The variation of the size of the illuminated field takes place exclusively by a change of the excitation of the source-side condenser lens (3). The objective-side second condenser lens (4) always has a constant excitation in the TEM mode. The excitation of the source-side condenser lens (3) is the greatest for maximum illuminating field diameter, and on the contrary is reduced for smaller illuminating field diameters. In TEM operation, two crossovers always exist in the illuminating beam path, of which the second is situated between the focal plane of the condenser-objective single field lens and the specimen plane (6).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2003
    Assignee: Leo Elektronenmikroskopie GmbH
    Inventor: Gerd Benner
  • Patent number: 6528787
    Abstract: A scanning electron microscope capable of imaging a specimen at a magnification lower than the minimum magnification of the microscope. The specimen surface is virtually partitioned into cells. The specimen is so moved that the cells can be individually scanned by the electron beam and hence image data can be taken from each cell. Image data derived from each cell by the scan is stored in locations of an image memory that are addressed corresponding to the positions of the cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2003
    Assignees: Jeol Ltd., Jeol Engineering Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masumi Katagami, Miyuki Kaneyama
  • Patent number: 6526909
    Abstract: A device for increasing the incident energy of an ion for coating a disc in an ion beam deposition process. The ion beam deposition process is performed in a chamber with the disc to be coated disposed therein. An ion source, having a voltage level, is introduced into the chamber for generating an ion beam for depositing ions on the disc. A bias contact is coupled to the disc and a power supply is coupled to the bias contact. The power supply applies a voltage level to the bias contact that is less than the voltage level of the ion source thereby creating a negative bias voltage between the disc and the ion source. This negative bias voltage causes the incident energy of the ion to increase. As a result, the optimal incident energy can be achieved using a lower original energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2003
    Assignee: Seagate Technology, LLC
    Inventors: Kevin John Grannen, Jeffrey Arthur McCann, Xiaoding Ma, Jing Gui, Mark Anthony Shows
  • Patent number: 6529380
    Abstract: In a power module provided with a semiconductor integrated circuit containing a power element such as a power transistor, etc., a radiation plate for transmitting heat from a semiconductor chip which forms the semiconductor integrated circuit to a heat sink is made of ceramics. A conductive unit is obtained by saturating the upper portion of the ceramics with Cu (copper), Mg (magnesium), and Al (aluminum). A silicon chip 11 is attached to the conductive unit 13a with solder. The lower portion of the ceramics is attached to the heat sink 14 directly or through radiation grease 15. Thus, a resultant power module has a radiation structure with the number of units and the number of steps in an assembly process successfully decreased.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2003
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho
    Inventor: Eiji Kono
  • Patent number: 6525327
    Abstract: A beam stop (23) has a charge collecting member (40) which extends in the direction of scanning of a scanned beam by less than the total distance scanned, so that variation in the charge signal derived from the collecting member can provide a timing signal for use in monitoring alignment of the scanned beam. In a preferred embodiment, the beam stop plate (42) has slits (65-69) leading to apertures (60-64) containing charge collecting rods (73-75) located within the thickness of the beam stop plate (42).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Robert John Clifford Mitchell, Michael T. Wauk, John Ruffell, Hilton Glavish, Peter Kindersley
  • Patent number: 6524803
    Abstract: A mass spectrometer system analyzes a sample with the aid an associated computer system or processor which utilizes a relatively small compound deconvolution data library. The deconvolution library has a specific predefined order. The specific order of the compounds in the library is established based on predetermined knowledge of the sample being tested by the mass spectrometer. A deconvolution technique utilized by the computer system automates a deconvolution technique that would be utilized by an experienced process chemist for a similar sample and associated fragmentation or cracking pattern. The deconvolution technique steps through the deconvolution library's order of compounds and compares each compound's stored spectral data with the sample's spectrum. If it is determined that a compound's spectrum is found in the sample's spectrum, then at least one complete peak associated with the found compound's spectrum is removed from the sample's spectrum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Assignee: Agilent Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregor T. Overney, David T. Peterson
  • Patent number: 6525314
    Abstract: A compact high-performance mass spectrometer includes an ion source, an ion filter, a collision cell, a fragment filter, and an ion detector, along with one or more ion deflectors and one or more gas removal rings. An ion deflector allows a straight ion filter and a straight collision cell to be coupled in a folded configuration to make a compact design without the loss of performance associated with the use of curved quadrupole components. A gas removal ring, located proximate to an ion path aperture of the collision cell, allows an ion path aperture to be large for high sensitivity while minimizing performance degradation associated with the tendency of collision cell gas to escape via the collision cell ion path apertures to enter the high vacuum region and the detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Assignee: Waters Investments Limited
    Inventors: Joseph A. Jarrell, Guo-Zhong Li
  • Patent number: 6525326
    Abstract: A system for inhibiting the transport of contaminant particles with an ion beam includes an electric field generator for generating an electric field relative to a path of travel for the ion beam. A particle located in the ion beam and in a region of the electric field is charged to a polarity according to the ion beam, so that the electric field may urge the charged particle out of the ion beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Assignee: Axcelis Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Eric R. Harrington, Victor M. Benveniste, Jeffrey A. Burgess, John Z. Ye
  • Patent number: 6521903
    Abstract: A common deflection signal is provided, simultaneously, to individual yokes in an electron beam (e-beam) deflection apparatus of an electron beam projection lithography system. A single digital-to-analog converter (DAC) generates the common deflection signal. The common deflection signal is provided to individual programmable attenuators to adjust the signal for each individual yoke. The adjusted individual signal is amplified and passed to one of the individual yokes. The yokes are controlled to provide a curvilinear variable axis lens (CVAL) deflection that is adjusted to attenuate most of the noise from the common deflection signal that would have been present in a typical CVAL e-beam system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2003
    Assignee: Nikon Corporation
    Inventors: James Rockrohr, David Stumbo