Patents Examined by Robert M Kunemund
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Patent number: 10942095Abstract: Microfluidic devices and methods for investigating crystallization and/or for controlling a reaction or a phase transition are disclosed. In one embodiment, the microfluidic device includes a reservoir layer; a membrane disposed on the reservoir layer; a wetting control layer disposed on the membrane; and a storage layer disposed on the wetting control layer, wherein the wetting control layer and the storage layer define a microfluidic channel comprising an upstream portion, a downstream portion, a first fluid path in communication with the upstream and the downstream portions, and a storage well positioned within the first fluid path, wherein the wetting control layer includes a fluid passageway in communication with the storage well and the membrane, and wherein the wetting control layer wets a first fluid introduced into the microfluidic channel, the first fluid comprising a hydrophilic, lipophilic, fluorophilic or gas phase as the continuous phase in the microfluidic channel.Type: GrantFiled: June 20, 2019Date of Patent: March 9, 2021Assignee: Brandeis UniversityInventors: Seth Fraden, Michael Heymann, Markus Ludwig
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Patent number: 10935510Abstract: Provided is a method of measuring a carbon concentration of a silicon sample, the method including introducing hydrogen atoms into a measurement-target silicon sample; subjecting the measurement-target silicon sample into which hydrogen atoms have been introduced to evaluation by an evaluation method of evaluating a trap level in a silicon band gap, without an electron beam irradiation treatment; and determining the carbon concentration of the measurement-target silicon sample on the basis of an evaluation result at least one trap level selected from the group consisting of Ec-0.10 eV, Ec-0.13 eV and Ec-0.15 eV, among the evaluation results obtained by the evaluation, wherein the determined carbon concentration is lower than 1.0E+16 atoms/cm3.Type: GrantFiled: January 18, 2017Date of Patent: March 2, 2021Assignee: SUMCO CORPORATIONInventors: Kazutaka Eriguchi, Shuichi Samata, Noritomo Mitsugi, Ayumi Masada
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Patent number: 10927476Abstract: A production method for a group III nitride crystal, the production method includes: preparing a plurality of group III nitride pieces as a plurality of seed crystals on a substrate, and growing a group III nitride crystal by bringing a surface of each of the seed crystals into contact with a melt that comprises at least one group III element selected from gallium, aluminum, and indium, and an alkali metal in an atmosphere comprising nitrogen, and thereby reacting the group III element and the nitrogen in the melt, wherein the step of growing a group III nitride crystal includes: growing a plurality of first group III nitride crystals whose cross-sections each have a triangular shape or a trapezoidal shape, from the plurality of seed crystals; and growing second group III nitride crystals each in a gap among the plurality of first group III nitride crystals.Type: GrantFiled: January 9, 2019Date of Patent: February 23, 2021Assignees: OSAKA UNIVERSITY, PANASONIC CORPORATIONInventors: Yusuke Mori, Masayuki Imanishi, Masashi Yoshimura, Kousuke Murakami, Yoshio Okayama
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Patent number: 10930540Abstract: Embodiments include an electrostatic chuck assembly having an electrostatic chuck mounted on an insulator. The electrostatic chuck and insulator may be within a chamber volume of a process chamber. In an embodiment, a ground shield surrounds the electrostatic chuck and the insulator, and a gap between the ground shield and the electrostatic chuck provides an environment at risk for electric field emission. A dielectric filler can be placed within the gap to reduce a likelihood of electric field emission. The dielectric filler can have a flexible outer surface that covers or attaches to the electrostatic chuck, or an interface between the electrostatic chuck and the insulator Other embodiments are also described and claimed.Type: GrantFiled: November 5, 2019Date of Patent: February 23, 2021Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.Inventors: Kartik Ramaswamy, Anwar Husain, Haitao Wang, Evans Yip Lee, Jaeyong Cho, Hamid Noorbakhsh, Kenny L. Doan, Sergio Fukuda Shoji, Chunlei Zhang
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Patent number: 10920339Abstract: A pulling condition calculation program enables a computer to perform the steps of: setting a plurality of sets of pulling conditions based on solid-liquid interface height and distance between a surface of a silicon melt and a heat shield plate; performing, for each set of the pulling conditions, the steps of: calculating a heat flux (q) (W/m2) and a crystal surface temperature (T); defining a reference temperature (Tref) given by an equation (1) below and a geometry of the solid-liquid interface as boundary conditions, recalculating an in-crystal temperature distribution; calculating a mean stress in the monocrystalline silicon; calculating a defect distribution in a pulling direction based on the mean stress and the in-crystal temperature distribution; determining a defect-free region in the pulling direction; and drawing a contour line showing a dimension of the defect-free region on a two-dimensional map defined by the distance and the solid-liquid interface height.Type: GrantFiled: December 7, 2017Date of Patent: February 16, 2021Assignee: SUMCO CORPORATIONInventor: Ryota Suewaka
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Patent number: 10920338Abstract: The present invention provides a driving unit measuring apparatus, the apparatus including: a crucible support for supporting a crucible; a pulling unit for elevating or rotating a seed at an upper portion of the crucible; a crucible driving unit for rotating or elevating the crucible support; a flat nut detachably coupled to the pulling unit; a crucible shaft inspection jig detachably coupled to the crucible driving unit; and a displacement measuring unit coupled to the flat nut and the crucible shaft inspection jig and measuring at least one of elevation and rotational displacement of the pulling unit and the crucible driving unit.Type: GrantFiled: August 20, 2019Date of Patent: February 16, 2021Assignee: SK SILTRON CO., LTD.Inventor: Woo Tae Kim
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Patent number: 10914021Abstract: The present invention provides polycrystalline silicon suitably used as a raw material for producing single crystal silicon. The polycrystalline silicon rod of the present invention is a polycrystalline silicon rod grown by chemical vapor deposition performed under a pressure of 0.3 MPaG or more, wherein when a plate-shaped sample piece collected from an arbitrary portion of the polycrystalline silicon rod is observed with a microscope with a temperature increased from a temperature lower than a melting point of silicon up to a temperature exceeding the melting point of silicon, a heterogeneous crystal region, which is a crystal region including a plurality of crystal grains heterogeneously assembled and including no needle-like crystal, having a diameter exceeding 10 ?m is not observed.Type: GrantFiled: October 16, 2018Date of Patent: February 9, 2021Assignee: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.Inventors: Shuichi Miyao, Masahiko Ishida, Naruhiro Hoshino, Shigeyoshi Netsu
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Patent number: 10916421Abstract: A method for manufacturing an epitaxial silicon wafer enables to lower carbon concentration in an epitaxial film. The method forming an epitaxial silicon wafer where an epitaxial film is formed on a silicon wafer in a reaction chamber including a wafer-holding susceptor that separates an upper and lower space communicating through a predetermined gap includes steps of forming a flow of a processing gas flowing laterally along an upper surface of the wafer in the upper space and a flow of a main purging gas flowing towards the susceptor upwardly in the lower space being formed simultaneously, setting a flow rate ratio of the main purging gas flow rate to the processing gas flow rate to be 1.0/100 to 1.5/100 where the processing gas flow rate is set as 100, and controlling a pressure in the upper space to be within an atmospheric pressure ±0.2 kPa at least.Type: GrantFiled: May 10, 2019Date of Patent: February 9, 2021Assignee: GLOBALWAFERS JAPAN CO., LTD.Inventors: Jun Yamamoto, Shinya Matsuda
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Patent number: 10916424Abstract: A method for forming a semiconductor device comprising a graded wurtzite III-nitride alloy layer, including a wurtzite III-nitride alloy, on a second layer. A polarization doping concentration profile is selected for the graded wurtzite III-nitride alloy layer based on an intended function of the semiconductor device. Based on the selected polarization doping concentration profile for the graded wurtzite III-nitride alloy layer, a composition-polarization change rate of the graded wurtzite III-nitride alloy layer and a grading speed of the graded wurtzite III-nitride alloy layer are determined. The composition-polarization change rate and grading speed are based on a composition of first and second elements of the wurtzite III-nitride alloy.Type: GrantFiled: December 4, 2018Date of Patent: February 9, 2021Assignee: KING ABDULLAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGYInventors: Xiaohang Li, Kaikai Liu
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Patent number: 10907273Abstract: A method of growing epitaxial 3C-SiC on single-crystal silicon is disclosed. The method comprises providing a single-crystal silicon substrate in a cold-wall chemical vapour deposition reactor, heating the substrate to a temperature equal to or greater than 700° C. and equal to or less than 1200° C., introducing a gas mixture into the reactor while the substrate is at the temperature, the gas mixture comprising a silicon source precursor, a carbon source precursor and a carrier gas so as to deposit an epitaxial layer of 3C-SiC on the single-crystal silicon.Type: GrantFiled: July 22, 2016Date of Patent: February 2, 2021Inventors: Maksym Myronov, Gerard Colston, Stephen Rhead
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Patent number: 10907272Abstract: The present invention provides a method including: a temperature raising step of raising a temperature in a crystal growing furnace with a silicon carbide raw material and a silicon carbide seed crystal arranged therein to a crystal growing temperature; a single crystal growing step of maintaining the crystal growing temperature and causing a silicon carbide single crystal to grow on the silicon carbide seed crystal; and a temperature lowering step of lowering the temperature in the crystal growing furnace from the crystal growing temperature to stop growth of the silicon carbide single crystal, in which the method further comprises, between the single crystal growing step and the temperature lowering step, a temperature lowering preparation step of maintaining the temperature in the crystal growing furnace at the crystal growing temperature and causing concentration of nitrogen gas in the crystal growing furnace to increase to be higher than concentration of nitrogen gas in the temperature raising step and iType: GrantFiled: December 17, 2018Date of Patent: February 2, 2021Assignee: SHOWA DENKO K.K.Inventor: Yohei Fujikawa
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Patent number: 10895007Abstract: An evaporation apparatus including a material source, a chamber, a passageway, and a heating component is provided. The material source is configured to provide a deposition material. The chamber includes a manifold. The passageway is configured to be connected to the material source and the manifold. The heating component is disposed in at least a portion of the passageway and configured to heat the deposition material. A calibration method of the evaporation apparatus is also provided.Type: GrantFiled: December 14, 2017Date of Patent: January 19, 2021Assignee: Industrial Technology Research InstituteInventors: Yu-Lin Hsu, Chien-Hung Lin, Kuo-Hsin Huang, Chao-Feng Sung, Chih-Ming Lai, Hung-Yi Chang
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Patent number: 10895018Abstract: A production method of a monocrystalline silicon includes: forming a shoulder of the monocrystalline silicon; and forming a straight body of the monocrystalline silicon. To form the shoulder, a crucible is heated such that a heating ratio, which is calculated by dividing a volume of heat from a lower heater by a volume of heat from an upper heater, increases from a predetermined value of 1 or more.Type: GrantFiled: April 18, 2017Date of Patent: January 19, 2021Assignee: SUMCO CORPORATIONInventors: Yasuhito Narushima, Toshimichi Kubota
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Patent number: 10883188Abstract: A method for making MnBi2Te4 single crystal is provided. The method includes: providing a mixture of polycrystalline MnTe and polycrystalline Bi2Te3 in Molar ratio of 1.1:1˜1:1.1; heating the mixture in a vacuum reaction chamber to 700° C.˜900° C., cooling the mixture to 570° C.˜600° C. slowly with a speed less than or equal to 1° C./hour, and annealing the mixture at 570° C.˜600° C. for a time above 10 days to obtain an intermediate product; and air quenching the intermediate product from 570° C.˜600° C. to room temperature. The method for making MnBi2Te4 single crystal is simple and has low cost.Type: GrantFiled: July 30, 2019Date of Patent: January 5, 2021Assignees: Tsinghua University, HON HAI PRECISION INDUSTRY CO., LTD.Inventors: Hao Li, Yang Wu, Yue-Gang Zhang, Shou-Shan Fan
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Patent number: 10875124Abstract: A method for producing or repairing a three-dimensional work piece, the method comprising the following steps: providing at least one substrate (15); depositing a first layer of a raw material powder onto the substrate (15); and irradiating selected areas of the deposited raw material powder layer with an electromagnetic or particle radiation beam (22) in a site selective manner in accordance with an irradiation pattern which corresponds to a geometry of at least part of a layer of the three-dimensional work piece to be produced, wherein the irradiation is controlled so as to produce a metallurgical bond between the substrate (15) and the raw material powder layer deposited thereon. Moreover, a use and apparatus are likewise disclosed.Type: GrantFiled: October 25, 2017Date of Patent: December 29, 2020Assignee: SLM Solutions Group AGInventors: Dieter Schwarze, Jiachun Chen
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Patent number: 10858753Abstract: A silicon single crystal manufacturing method by a Czochralski method pulls up a silicon single crystal from a silicon melt in a quartz crucible while applying a magnetic field to the silicon melt. During a pull-up process of the silicon single crystal, the surface temperature of the silicon melt is continuously measured, and crystal growth conditions are changed based on a result of frequency analysis of the surface temperature.Type: GrantFiled: May 9, 2017Date of Patent: December 8, 2020Assignee: SUMCO CORPORATIONInventors: Wataru Sugimura, Ryusuke Yokoyama, Mitsuaki Hayashi
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Patent number: 10851469Abstract: A method of synthesizing of gold-silver core-shell nanoparticles, from a colloidal aqueous solution of gold seeds with surfactant, the gold-silver core-shell nanoparticles being produced from anisotropic gold seeds, said method comprising adding to the colloidal aqueous solution a precursor of silver and a reducing agent, to produce the deposition of silver on the gold seeds in a step called principal, characterized in that the method has an incubation step of the colloidal aqueous solution containing the gold seeds with surfactant in the DMSO, prior to the principal step.Type: GrantFiled: October 11, 2017Date of Patent: December 1, 2020Assignees: Universite Paris Diderot, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut De Physique Du Globe De ParisInventors: Israa Haidar, Daniel Neuville, Leila Boubekeur, Nordin Felidj
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Patent number: 10844518Abstract: A crucible includes a wall made of a base material of tungsten or molybdenum or of a material based on tungsten or molybdenum. A barrier layer is disposed at least in sections on an outer side of the wall and/or in the wall. The barrier layer is made of a metallic material having a greater affinity for carbon and/or oxygen than the base material. A method for using a crucible for producing single-crystal sapphire or fused quartz and a method for producing a crucible for high-temperature applications are also provided.Type: GrantFiled: January 26, 2017Date of Patent: November 24, 2020Assignee: Plansee SEInventors: Michael Mark, Hannes Traxler, Michael O'Sullivan, Wolfram Knabl, Alexander Lorich, Robert Schiftner
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Patent number: 10844517Abstract: A method of processing a SiC single crystal includes a measuring step of measuring a shape of an atomic arrangement plane of the SiC single crystal along at least a first direction passing through a center in plan view and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction; and a surface processing step of processing a first plane serving as an attachment plane of the SiC single crystal, in which the surface processing step includes a grinding step of grinding the first plane, and in the grinding step, a difference is given to a surface state between the first plane and a second plane facing the first plane, and the atomic arrangement plane is flattened by Twyman's effect.Type: GrantFiled: December 19, 2018Date of Patent: November 24, 2020Assignee: SHOWA DENKO K.K.Inventor: Yohei Fujikawa
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Patent number: 10847351Abstract: A method and apparatus for processing substrates in tandem processing regions of a plasma chamber is provided. In one example, the apparatus is embodied as a plasma chamber that includes a chamber body having a first chamber side with a first processing region and a second chamber side with a second processing region. The chamber body has a front wall and a bottom wall. A first chamber side port, a second chamber side port, and a vacuum port are disposed through the bottom wall. The vacuum port is at least part of an exhaust path for each of the processing regions. A vacuum house extends from the front wall and defines a second portion of the vacuum port. A substrate support is disposed in each of the processing regions, and a stem is coupled to each substrate support. Each stem extends through a chamber side port.Type: GrantFiled: July 15, 2019Date of Patent: November 24, 2020Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.Inventors: Andrew Nguyen, Yogananda Sarode Vishwanath, Xue Yang Chang