Patents Examined by Michael A. Lyons
  • Patent number: 11867505
    Abstract: Interferometric speckle visibility spectroscopy methods, systems, and non-transitory computer readable media for recovering sample speckle field data or a speckle field pattern from an off-axis interferogram recorded by one or more sensors over an exposure time and determining sample dynamics of a sample being analyzed from speckle statistics of the speckle field data or the speckle field pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: California Institute of Technology
    Inventors: Joshua Brake, Jian Xu, Changhuei Yang
  • Patent number: 11867612
    Abstract: An optical inspection apparatus includes a stage that supports a target substrate, the target substrate including a plurality of light emitting elements, a jig that applies an electrical signal to the target substrate, the jig including a regulation resistor, a microscope that generates magnified image data of the target substrate, a camera that captures the magnified image data to generate a color image of the target substrate, and an optical measurement unit that captures the magnified image data of the target substrate to generate a spectrum image and measure optical characteristics of the target substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: SAMSUNG DISPLAY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Je Won Yoo, Basrur Veidhes, Dae Hyun Kim, Hyun Min Cho, Jong Won Lee, Joo Yeol Lee
  • Patent number: 11867497
    Abstract: The present disclosure discloses a method for measuring the film thickness of a semiconductor device. The measuring method includes: providing a reference spectrogram of a main storage region of a reference semiconductor device; obtaining a first measured spectrogram of a main storage region of a semiconductor device to be measured; adjusting a thickness parameter of a target film in the main storage region of the reference semiconductor device within a preset range based on the reference spectrogram, obtaining an adjusted reference spectrogram, and comparing the first measured spectrogram with the adjusted reference spectrogram; if the similarity between the first measured spectrogram and the adjusted reference spectrogram is greater than a first preset value, using the thickness parameter corresponding to the adjusted reference spectrogram as the thickness of the target film in the main storage region of the semiconductor device to be measured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2024
    Assignee: CHANGXIN MEMORY TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventor: Yongshang Sheng
  • Patent number: 11859962
    Abstract: Described herein is a method for examining a coating of a probe surface, including the steps of providing sensing data indicative of a depth of the coating at each of a predetermined subset of probe surface points, determining a depth representation of the coating from the sensing data, and deriving a coating property based on the depth representation. The coating property carries objective information about a geometric constitution or structure of the coating, which can be used for assessing the coating with respect to a functionality that is due to its geometric constitution or structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: BASF COATINGS GMBH
    Inventors: Rolf Doering, Torsten Engelmann, Michael Freitag, Susanne Behrens, Peter Stockbrink, Nils Tegethoff, Karin Eckert, Jutta Kersting
  • Patent number: 11860057
    Abstract: A heterodyne one-dimensional grating measuring device and measuring method thereof, including a light source, a reading head, a photoelectric receiving module, and a signal processing system. The light source is configured to generate two linearly polarized lights having characteristics of overlapping, polarization orthogonal, and fixed frequency difference. The reading head is configured to receive two beams of polarized lights and be respectively incident on a surface of a moving measuring grating to generate a +1-order diffracted light and a ?1-order diffracted light. The photoelectric receiving module is configured to receive the +1-order diffracted light and the ?1-order diffracted light to form two paths of beat frequency signals. The signal processing system is configured to perform differential calculation on the two paths of the beat frequency signals to realize a displacement measurement of single diffraction of the measuring grating for four-fold optical subdivision.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: CHANGCHUN INSTITUTE OF OPTICS, FINE MECHANICS AND PHYSICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
    Inventors: Wenhao Li, Zhaowu Liu, Wei Wang, Hongzhu Yu, Rigalantu Ji, Xuefeng Yao
  • Patent number: 11859963
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method for depth-profiling of samples including a target region including a lateral structural feature. The method includes projecting an optical pump pulse on a semiconductor device comprising a target region, such as to produce an acoustic pulse which propagates within the target region of the semiconductor device, wherein a wavelength of the pump pulse is at least two times greater than a lateral extent of a lateral structural feature of the semiconductor device along at least one lateral direction, projecting an optical probe pulse on the semiconductor device, such that the probe pulse undergoes Brillouin scattering off the acoustic pulse within the target region, detecting a scattered component of the probe pulse to obtain a measured signal, and analyzing the measured signal to obtain a depth-dependence of at least one parameter characterizing the lateral structural feature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: Applied Materials Israel Ltd
    Inventors: Ori Golani, Ido Almog
  • Patent number: 11859972
    Abstract: A method of providing optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging may comprise using an on-chip frequency comb source interfaced with an OCT system by a circulator as an imaging source and reconstructing OCT images from resulting spectral data from target tissue illuminated by the imaging source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2024
    Assignee: The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York
    Inventors: Michal Lipson, Xingchen Ji, Alexander Klenner, Xinwen Yao, Yu Gan, Alexander L. Gaeta, Christine P Hendon
  • Patent number: 11852458
    Abstract: An oxide layer thickness measurement device according to the present invention stores, for each of layer thickness measurement sub-ranges constituting a layer thickness measurement range, layer thickness conversion information representing a correlation between a layer thickness and an emissivity where a ratio of a change in the emissivity to a change in the layer thickness in the layer thickness measurement sub-range falls within a set extent. Emitting light luminances of a surface of a steel sheet are measured at respective measurement wavelengths different from each other, and a temperature of the surface of the steel sheet is measured to thereby calculate the emissivity at each of the measurement wavelengths.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Kobe Steel, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiro Inui, Hiroyuki Takamatsu, Ryota Nakanishi
  • Patent number: 11852574
    Abstract: The disclosed subject matter relates to a method for determining a three-dimensional particle distribution in a medium, comprising: emitting a coherent light beam to irradiate the sample; recording an interference image of the scattered light beam and a second part of the light beam that has not been scattered; computing, from the interference image, for each one of a plurality of virtual planes lying within the sample, a reconstructed image of the sample, generating for each reconstructed image, a presence image, wherein a value is assigned to each pixel of the presence images if the corresponding pixel of the reconstructed image has an intensity value exceeding a threshold value and if the corresponding pixel of the reconstructed image has a phase value with a predetermined sign.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Universität für Bodenkultur Wien
    Inventors: Petrus Dominicus Joannes Van Oostrum, Erik Olof Reimhult
  • Patent number: 11854774
    Abstract: Disclosed is a detection device which includes a measurement unit including an illumination sensor that measures an amount of light in an interior of a chamber, and a detection unit that detects whether plasma is generated in the interior of the chamber, through analysis of the amount of the light.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: PSK Holdings Inc.
    Inventors: Nam Young Kim, Hyeong Mo Yoo
  • Patent number: 11852619
    Abstract: Provided is a meat inspection apparatus including a light source configured to emit a plurality of inspection lights to a plurality of regions of meat, respectively, a light detector configured to generate a plurality of emission spectrum signals based on measuring a plurality of fluorescences emitted from the plurality of regions, and a processor configured to receive the plurality of emission spectrum signals from the light detector, generate hyperspectral images of the meat based on the plurality of emission spectrum signals, and obtain a state of the meat based on the hyperspectral images, wherein the processor is further configured to obtain the state of the meat for a plurality of sub-regions in each of the plurality of regions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignees: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., CHUNG ANG University Industry Academic Cooperation Foundation
    Inventors: Unjeong Kim, Hyungbin Son, Suyeon Lee
  • Patent number: 11852457
    Abstract: A system for measuring a thickness of a coating arranged on an anode substrate includes an optical measurement system configured to transmit a light signal having a known first polarization toward the anode substrate through the coating such that the light signal is reflected from the surface of the anode substrate, a detection module positioned to receive the reflected light signal and configured to determine a second polarization of the reflected light signal that is different from the first polarization and measure a polarization difference between the first polarization and the second polarization, and a measurement module configured to receive the measured polarization difference, calculate the thickness of the coating based on the measured polarization difference, and generate an output based on the calculated thickness.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Fang Dai, Hongliang Wang, Shuru Chen, Mei Cai
  • Patent number: 11852585
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to methods for evaluating features of objects such as liquid droplets and surfaces. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to methods for measuring features such as the contact angle and the thickness of an object such as a liquid droplet or a fingerprint as well as related compositions for evaluation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: THE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
    Inventors: Iltai Isaac Kim, Yang Lie, Jae Sung Park
  • Patent number: 11852459
    Abstract: A method for measuring a position of a fluorophore includes configuring a set of compact light distributions, the set having at least one member, each light distribution characterized by a center, so that there is substantially zero intensity at the center of the set of compact light distributions. The method additionally includes moving the set of compact light distributions in relation to a set of hypothesized positions of the fluorophore, detecting, in a plurality of locations corresponding to the hypothesized set of positions, a set of images; and estimating the position of the fluorophore, by determining from the set of images a set of parameters describing the position of the fluorophore using an inverse problem method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2023
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Bioaxial SAS
    Inventor: Gabriel Y Sirat
  • Patent number: 11845158
    Abstract: A thickness measuring apparatus that measures a thickness of a workpiece held by a chuck table. The thickness measuring apparatus includes plural image sensors that detect intensity of light spectrally split on each wavelength basis by plural diffraction gratings and generate a spectral interference waveform and a thickness output unit that outputs thickness information from the spectral interference waveform generated by the plural image sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: DISCO CORPORATION
    Inventors: Nobuyuki Kimura, Keiji Nomaru
  • Patent number: 11841223
    Abstract: An optical system can include a mirror that reflects incoming light to a sensor for detection. The position and/or orientation of the mirror can be controlled to reflect incoming light from different locations and/or directions. Position and/or orientation of the mirror may be tracked and/or detected by an optical position sensor. The position sensor can transmit a beam to a reflector on the mirror, and the reflected beam can be received by the position sensor. Characteristics of the reflected beam can be measured to determine the position and/or orientation of the mirror. For example, the beam can be used for interferometric and/or intensity measurements, which can then be correlated with a position and/or orientation of the mirror.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 23, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: Lockheed Martin Corporation
    Inventors: Brian James Howley, Michael L Tartaglia, Anthony C. Kowalczyk, Patrick Eliott Perkins, Alain Charles Carrier, Paul J. Suni, Bruce G. Tiemann, David Carl Sadighi
  • Patent number: 11841298
    Abstract: The inventive concept relates to a collector for collecting particles in air and a device for detecting particles in air comprising said collector. Said collector comprises a substrate, which is adapted to enable imaging of the particles, an adhesive layer arranged on a collector side of the substrate, said adhesive layer being formed by an adhesive material. The collector further comprises a protection element, which is configured to protect the adhesive layer before collection of particles. The collector is configured to allow release of protection of the adhesive layer by the protection element to expose an adhesive surface of the adhesive layer to ambient air for collecting particles on the adhesive surface. The collector is further configured for presenting a particle sample carrier having a smooth top surface and a smooth bottom surface for preventing light from being diffusely scattered by the particle sample carrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: IMEC VZW
    Inventors: Ziduo Lin, Abdulkadir Yurt, Richard Stahl, Geert Vanmeerbeeck, Andy Lambrechts
  • Patent number: 11841312
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a monitoring device includes a detector unit including an image transfer element comprising an incident surface which allows light to enter from a light-transmissive base material on which a microbody is placed and an emission surface which emits the light entering from the incident surface, which transfers two-dimensional image data of the microbody to a semiconductor optical sensor, and the semiconductor optical sensor which receives light from the emission surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2023
    Assignee: CYTORONIX INC.
    Inventors: Kaita Imai, Shouhei Kousai, Michihiko Nishigaki
  • Patent number: 11835446
    Abstract: An optical light reflectance measurement system above an imaging member surface measures fountain solution surface light reflectance interference on reflective substrate portions of the imaging member surface in real-time during a printing operation. The measured light reflectance interference corresponds to a thickness of the fountain solution layer and may be used in a feedback loop to actively control fountain solution layer thickness by adjusting the volumetric feed rate of fountain solution added onto the imaging member surface during a printing operation to reach a desired uniform thickness for the printing. This fountain solution monitoring system may be fully automated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: Xerox Corporation
    Inventors: Donald Thresh, Jonathan Ireland, Bruce H. Smith, Michael N. Soures, James D. Vanbortel
  • Patent number: 11835332
    Abstract: A device for detecting a steering wheel position, the steering wheel angle and/or the inclination of the steering wheel (304) of a vehicle is disclosed. The device includes at least two cameras (5, 6; 202, 203) by means of which the steering wheel (304) can be sensed (8, 9; 204, 205). At least three reference objects (301, 302, 303) are provided which can be releasably fastened to the steering wheel (304).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: DURR ASSEMBLY PRODUCTS GMBH
    Inventors: Stefan Müller, Rainer Weisgerber, Ismail Kurt, Thomas Tentrup