Patents Examined by Michael A Gump
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Patent number: 11938586Abstract: A slurry monitoring device, a CMP system and a method of in-line monitoring a slurry are provided. The slurry monitoring device incudes a slurry metrology cell, a plurality of light sources and at least one optical detector. The slurry metrology cell is configured to accommodating a slurry. The light sources are configured to emit light beams on the slurry in the slurry metrology cell. The light sources include a first light source configured to emit a first light beam having a first wavelength, and a second light source configured to emit a second light beam having a second wavelength longer than the first wavelength. The at least one optical detector is configured to detect an intensity of the light beams scattered by abrasive particles in the slurry.Type: GrantFiled: August 27, 2021Date of Patent: March 26, 2024Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.Inventors: Chwen Yu, Ting-Wen Chen, Chi Wen Kuo
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Patent number: 11931852Abstract: The present disclosure discloses a device for cutting connection of multi-piece module electrode which includes a stand, the stand is provided with a workbench and the workbench is connected with a height adjusting device. The device further includes an angle grinding device, the angle grinding device includes a polishing shaft and an angle grinder, the angle grinder is arranged on the polishing shaft, and the angle grinding device is provided with a saw blade. According to the characteristics of the module electrode, the angle grinding device is matched with the workbench to implement simultaneous electrode disconnecting operation of multiple electrodes of the module, so that the device not only has higher efficiency and better cutting effect, but also is suitable for universal saw blades, saves the cost, and is safer.Type: GrantFiled: May 12, 2021Date of Patent: March 19, 2024Assignees: HUNAN BRUNP EV RECYCLING CO., LTD., GUANGDONG BRUNP RECYCLING TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., HUNAN BRUNP RECYCLING TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Xiaolin Jiang, Changdong Li
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Patent number: 11931849Abstract: A blocking device and method for mounting a leap block to a lens by a lifting/lowering mechanism using a magnet and a wire is described comprising a blocking device housing having a guide; a movable leap block attachment part mounted on the guide of the housing; a spring having a lower end supporting the attachment part and an upper end supporting the blocking device housing, the spring pushing the attachment part downward, so that the attachment part protrudes below the lower end of the blocking device housing; a wire having one end connected to a pulley and the other end connected to the attachment part, so the wire pulling the attachment part upward when the pulley rotates; a leap block attached to the lower end of the attachment part by magnets; and a blocking arm coupled to the housing and to move the housing up and down.Type: GrantFiled: February 26, 2021Date of Patent: March 19, 2024Assignee: HUVITZ CO., LTD.Inventors: Dong Kun Oh, Jin Ho Kim
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Patent number: 11931860Abstract: A polishing apparatus includes a polishing station to hold a polishing pad, a carrier head to hold a substrate in contact with a polishing pad at the polishing station, a camera positioned to capture an image of a lower surface of a consumable part when the consumable part moves away from the polishing pad, and a controller configured to perform an image processing algorithm on the image to determine whether the consumable part is damaged. The consumable part can be a retaining ring on a carrier head, or a conditioner disk on a conditioner head.Type: GrantFiled: February 1, 2023Date of Patent: March 19, 2024Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Thomas H. Osterheld, Dominic J. Benvegnu
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Patent number: 11930987Abstract: A hand vacuum cleaner has an upper end, a lower end, an air flow passage, a main body with a handle, an air treatment member, an on board energy storage member, and a suction motor. The on board energy storage member is positioned in the air flow passage downstream of the air treatment member. The suction motor is provided in the air flow passage downstream of the energy storage member.Type: GrantFiled: April 17, 2019Date of Patent: March 19, 2024Assignee: Omachron Intellectual Property Inc.Inventor: Wayne Ernest Conrad
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Patent number: 11911867Abstract: A polishing apparatus which can measure a film thickness with high accuracy without affecting a polishing rate of a wafer is disclosed. The polishing apparatus includes: a polishing head configured to press a wafer against a polishing pad; an illuminating fiber having a distal end disposed in a flow passage formed in the polishing table; a spectrometer configured to resolve reflected light from the wafer in accordance with wavelength and measure an intensity of the reflected light at each of the wavelengths; a light-receiving fiber having a distal end disposed in the flow passage; a liquid supply line communicating with the flow passage; a gas supply line communicating with the flow passage; a liquid supply valve attached to the liquid supply line; a gas supply valve attached to the gas supply line; and an operation controller configured to control operations of the liquid supply valve and the gas supply valve.Type: GrantFiled: July 18, 2018Date of Patent: February 27, 2024Assignee: EBARA CORPORATIONInventors: Toshifumi Kimba, Masaki Kinoshita, Yoichi Shiokawa
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Patent number: 11904432Abstract: A rotation controlling section of a control unit calculates a maximum thicknesswise difference in a wafer by using a noncontact thickness measuring instrument, and if the maximum thicknesswise difference exceeds a tolerance, relatively changes a rotational speed of a chuck table relative to a rotational speed of a spindle. This can shift a rotational speed ratio, which is a ratio between the rotational speed of the spindle and the rotational speed of the chuck table, from an integer. Therefore, the maximum thicknesswise difference can be made small through spark-out processing. As a result, cyclic variations in thickness value of the wafer are reduced, enabling planarization of a ground surface of the wafer.Type: GrantFiled: June 14, 2022Date of Patent: February 20, 2024Assignee: DISCO CORPORATIONInventors: Satoru Fujimura, Keita Nakamura, Shinji Yamashita
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Patent number: 11904433Abstract: The present disclosure provides a fully automatic gemstone polishing robot. An aspect of the present disclosure provides an automatic gemstone polishing robot comprising: a gemstone polishing unit, comprising a gemstone holding unit for supporting a gemstone in contact with an abrasive surface, and configured to polish said gemstone in a plurality of iterations based on a feedback signal; an image capturing unit to capture, in one or more of the plurality of iterations, at least one image of the gemstone; and an image processing unit, which when executed by one or more processors, analyzes said at least one image of the gemstone with respect to one or a plurality of gemstone parameters, wherein the image processing unit is further configured to compare the one or a plurality of analyzed gemstone parameters with one or a plurality of pre-determined gemstone parameters to generate the feedback signal to be transmitted to the gemstone polishing unit.Type: GrantFiled: August 11, 2018Date of Patent: February 20, 2024Assignee: Freedom Automation Solutions LLPInventor: Ivan Nikolayevich Sytenko
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Patent number: 11897091Abstract: A pawl mechanism with a bias member that biases the pawl into engagement with the drive gear. The bias member can be a tube spring disposed within a bore to bias the pawl into engagement with the drive gear while eliminating the need for a spacer, as required by prior art ratchet wrenches.Type: GrantFiled: December 17, 2018Date of Patent: February 13, 2024Assignee: Snap-on IncorporatedInventor: Christopher D. Thompson
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Patent number: 11890721Abstract: A screw rotor lead correction calculation device includes an initial data input section configured to input an error as a distance with respect to a reference lead at each axial position of a rotor groove portion of a screw rotor, and a processing machine input correction amount/position output section configured to compute and output, based on the error as the distance input to the initial data input section, a lead correction amount with respect to the reference lead and a lead correction starting position as an axial position for starting lead correction. With this configuration, correction data for obtaining a screw rotor with a high-accuracy lead can be obtained from a lead error with respect to a reference lead in a screw rotor obtained by ground finish of the material of the screw rotor.Type: GrantFiled: June 7, 2019Date of Patent: February 6, 2024Assignee: HITACHI-JOHNSON CONTROLS AIR CONDITIONING, INC.Inventors: Toshio Yamanaka, Koji Utsumi, Hisashi Aoki, Yoshiyuki Yamada, Hidetaro Kayanuma
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Patent number: 11890716Abstract: An accuracy of detecting a slip out of a substrate from a top ring is improved. A polishing unit 300 includes a polishing table 350, a top ring 302, a light emitting member 371, a slip-out detector 370, and an elimination mechanism 380. A polishing pad 352 that polishes a substrate WF is attached to the polishing table 350. The top ring 302 holds the substrate WF to press the substrate WF against the polishing pad 352. The light emitting member 371 emits a light to a detection area 372 on the polishing pad 352. The slip-out detector 370 detects a slip out of the substrate WF from the top ring 302 based on the light reflected from the detection area 372. The elimination mechanism 380 eliminates a polishing liquid flowing into the detection area 372.Type: GrantFiled: December 10, 2020Date of Patent: February 6, 2024Assignee: EBARA CORPORATIONInventors: Akihiro Yazawa, Kenichi Kobayashi, Asagi Matsugu
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Patent number: 11878392Abstract: The invention relates to a method for the hydro-erosive processing of components, in which hydro-erosive grinding a liquid containing grinding particles flows over surfaces of the component (1), in a device having a channel (3), through which the liquid containing grinding particles flows under pressure and in which the component (1) to be ground is held and in which a valve (5) is positioned upstream of the component (1) in the flow direction, by means of which valve the flow of the liquid can be adjusted.Type: GrantFiled: May 21, 2019Date of Patent: January 23, 2024Assignee: BASF SEInventor: Mathias Weickert
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Patent number: 11858092Abstract: A substrate processing method of thinning a substrate having a protective tape attached on a front surface thereof includes measuring a thickness of the protective tape; and grinding, by using a grinder, a rear surface of the substrate held by a substrate holder.Type: GrantFiled: June 7, 2018Date of Patent: January 2, 2024Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITEDInventors: Munehisa Kodama, Takahiro Sakamoto
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Patent number: 11858090Abstract: After a workpiece unit has been delivered from a cassette and before the workpiece unit is delivered to a chuck table, a value of the thickness of the workpiece unit is recognized on the basis of a result of a measurement performed by a measuring unit. The value of the thickness of the workpiece unit is represented by the sum of values of respective thicknesses of a workpiece and a tape affixed thereto. On the basis of the result of the measurement performed by the measuring unit, it is possible to decide whether or not the tape affixed to the workpiece has a desired thickness, i.e., whether the tape is of a desired type or not. As a result, a workpiece with an inadequate tape affixed thereto is prevented from being ground.Type: GrantFiled: November 22, 2021Date of Patent: January 2, 2024Assignee: DISCO CORPORATIONInventor: Kazuma Sekiya
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Patent number: 11858087Abstract: There is provided a grinding apparatus including a chuck table configured to hold a workpiece, a grinding unit configured to grind the workpiece held by the chuck table by grinding stones fixed to a grinding wheel, a grinding feed mechanism configured to raise or lower the grinding unit, a reading unit configured to read a thickness of a base which thickness is recorded on a recording medium on which the thickness of the base of the grinding wheel is recorded, a base thickness storage section configured to store the thickness of the base which thickness is read by the reading unit, and a detecting unit configured to make the grinding unit perform processing by the grinding feed mechanism, and detect a fitting surface of a mount and the lower surface of a grinding stone of the grinding wheel fitted to the mount.Type: GrantFiled: February 17, 2022Date of Patent: January 2, 2024Assignee: DISCO CORPORATIONInventor: Jiro Genozono
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Patent number: 11850698Abstract: An automatic knife sharpening machine may include a vice to grip a blade of a knife and a pair of grind wheels to grind material from the blade. The machine may include a scanner to determine a profile of an edge of the blade, and a sharpness sensor to determine a sharpness level of the edge. The machine may include a controller. The controller may perform a first sharpening pass on the knife by moving the grind wheels into contact with the blade, and advancing the grind wheels longitudinally along the blade from adjacent the vice towards a tip of the blade with the grind wheels in contact with the blade. The controller may determine, using the sharpness sensor, the sharpness level of the edge after the first sharpening pass and perform at least one second sharpening pass when the determined sharpness level is less than a threshold sharpness level.Type: GrantFiled: January 29, 2020Date of Patent: December 26, 2023Assignee: The Hillman Group, Inc.Inventors: Whitfield Janes Fowler, Sean Stone, Ari Bennett, Jeffrey Kastenbaum, David Frederick Lyons, Dmitriy Kolchin
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Substrate polishing apparatus, method of creating thickness map, and method of polishing a substrate
Patent number: 11833636Abstract: To measure thickness in a polishing treatment more efficiently. A substrate polishing apparatus comprises a rotatably configured polishing table provided with a sensor that outputs a signal related to a thickness, a rotatably configured polishing head that faces the polishing table, a substrate being attachable to a face of the polishing head that faces the polishing table, and a controller. The controller acquires a signal from the sensor when the sensor passes over a surface to be polished of the substrate, specifies an orbit of the sensor with respect to the substrate on a basis of a profile of the signal, calculates a thickness of the substrate at each point on the orbit on a basis of the signal, and creates a thickness map on a basis of the calculated thickness at each point on a plurality of orbits of the sensor.Type: GrantFiled: September 22, 2020Date of Patent: December 5, 2023Assignee: EBARA CORPORATIONInventors: Katsuhide Watanabe, Yoichi Shiokawa, Keita Yagi, Akira Nakamura -
Patent number: 11819178Abstract: A hand vacuum cleaner has an airflow path from an air inlet to a clean air outlet with an air treatment member and a fan and motor assembly in the air flow path. The hand vacuum cleaner has a cleaner body and a handle having a hand grip portion. The hand vacuum cleaner also includes a plurality of batteries. A portion of the motor and fan assembly and/or a portion of a filter component can be positioned between at least some of the batteries. The batteries may be contained in a removable storage chamber. The storage chamber may be removably mounted to the hand vacuum cleaner around at least a portion of a filter and/or fan and motor assembly.Type: GrantFiled: November 26, 2018Date of Patent: November 21, 2023Assignee: Omachron Intellectual Property Inc.Inventor: Wayne Ernest Conrad
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Patent number: 11787010Abstract: Grinding a surface of a workpieces is accomplished with a grinding machine having at least two grinding units. First, a target structure of the surface to be achieved is provided. Then, using predetermined grinding parameters, a first of the two grinding units is used to grind the surface of the structure. Then, the surface of the actual structure is captured and compared to the target structure. Based on the comparison, the grinding parameters are adjusted and the surface is then ground, using the adjusted parameters, with the second of the two grinding units.Type: GrantFiled: July 21, 2021Date of Patent: October 17, 2023Assignee: KARL HEESEMANN MASCHINENFABRIK GMBH & CO. KGInventor: Christoph Giese
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Patent number: 11780099Abstract: Described is an apparatus for robot-aided grinding, comprising the following: a manipulator, a linear actuator, and a grinding machine which includes a rotating grinding tool and is connected to the manipulator via the linear actuator. The apparatus further comprises a protective cover that partially surrounds the rotating grinding tool, the rotating grinding tool protruding from the protective cover at least on a first side. An adjusting mechanism is provided which connects the protective cover to the grinding machine and is designed to adjust the position of the protective cover in relation to the grinding machine.Type: GrantFiled: April 4, 2017Date of Patent: October 10, 2023Assignee: FerRobotics Compliant Robot Technology GmbHInventor: Ronald Naderer