Patents Examined by Sean M Luck
  • Patent number: 11204337
    Abstract: The invention relates to a method for targeted analysis of ions according to mobility which uses a trapping ion mobility separator (TIMS) comprising a gas flow and an electric DC field barrier within an RF ion guide. The method comprises the steps of introducing ions into the trapping ion mobility separator, pushing the ions by the gas flow against the counteracting electric DC field barrier wherein the height of the electric DC field barrier and the velocity of the gas flow are set such that target ions are trapped near a plateau of the trapping ion mobility separator along which the effective force acting on the ions is substantially constant, and adjusting the height of the electric DC field barrier and/or the velocity of the gas flow in a single step such that the target ions pass the electric DC field barrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 21, 2021
    Inventor: Mark Ridgeway
  • Patent number: 11201043
    Abstract: A method of mass spectrometry is disclosed comprising: a) providing temporally separated precursor ions; b) mass analyzing separated precursor ions, and/or product ions derived therefrom, during a plurality of sequential acquisition periods, wherein the value of an operational parameter of the spectrometer is varied during the different acquisition periods; c) storing the spectral data obtained in each acquisition period along with its respective value of the operational parameter; d) interrogating the stored spectral data and determining which of the spectral data for a precursor ion or product ions meets a predetermined criterion, and determining the value of the operational parameter that provides this mass spectral data as a target operational parameter value; and e) mass analyzing again the precursor or product ions whilst the operational parameter is set to the target operational parameter value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: Micromass UK Limited
    Inventors: Martin Raymond Green, Jason Lee Wildgoose, Keith Richardson
  • Patent number: 11189477
    Abstract: Systems and methods for atmospheric pressure chemical ionization are provided herein. In various aspects, the APCI apparatus, systems, and methods can provide an asymmetric sample spray into a vaporization chamber asymmetrically (e.g., off axis from the longitudinal axis of the vaporization chamber) so as to increase the interaction of the molecules in the sample spray with the vaporization chamber's sidewalls (and expose more of the molecules to the heat generated thereby), which can thereby result in improved consistency and/or efficiency of ion formation, and/or increased sensitivity relative to conventional APCI techniques.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: DH Technologies Development Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Thomas R. Covey, Peter Kovarik
  • Patent number: 11189460
    Abstract: An apparatus may include an RF power assembly, arranged to output an RF signal, and a drift tube assembly, arranged to transmit an ion beam, and coupled to the RF power assembly. The drift tube assembly may include a first ground electrode; an AC drift tube assembly, disposed downstream of the first ground electrode; and a second ground electrode, disposed downstream of the AC drift tube assembly, where the AC drift tube assembly comprises at least one variable length AC drift tube.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles T. Carlson, Paul J. Murphy, Frank Sinclair, William Davis Lee
  • Patent number: 11189478
    Abstract: Four rod electrodes (50a to 50d) for separating ions according to a mass-to-charge ratio are held by a rod holder (51). The rod holder (51) is placed on a metal holder sustaining stand (52) provided on a bottom surface of a vacuum housing (1), and is fixed while being pressed by a fixation band (53) fixed to the holder sustaining stand (52) with screws (56). The fixation band (53) has a coating film layer (532) formed by a black nickel plating process on the entire surface of a main member (531) made from phosphor bronze. The coating film layer (532) has high emissivity, and thus heat transferred from the rod holder (51) to the fixation band (53) is efficiently radiated into the vacuum housing (1). Therefore, heat generated in the rod holder (51) due to dielectric loss is efficiently dissipated, and deformation of the rod holder can be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2021
    Assignee: SHIMADZU CORPORATION
    Inventors: Manabu Ueda, Kota Nagasao
  • Patent number: 11183366
    Abstract: A multi-beam writing method includes performing the k-th tracking control (k being a natural number) by beam deflection in order to follow movement of the stage while collecting each beam of multiple beams, performing a plurality of shots of the multiple beams by the each beam simultaneously shifting in a rectangular or square irradiation region, which is surrounded by the size of the beam pitch and corresponding to the each beam, while performing the k-th tracking control, and returning, after the period of the k-th tracking control has passed, the tracking position to a position which is obtained by adding an offset of an integer multiple of the size of the beam pitch to the tracking starting position of the k-th tracking control where the k-th tracking control started, to be as a starting position of the (k+1)th tracking control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 11183378
    Abstract: In a laser assisted spectroscopy system, an apparatus for bypassing the fluid conduit and a method of bypassing the fluid conduit, opening the sample chamber and replacing the sample, closing and purging the sample chamber, and removing the fluid conduit bypass and returning to online status is addressed by the present disclosure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2021
    Assignee: ELEMENTAL SCIENTIFIC LASERS, LLC
    Inventors: Jay N. Wilkins, Leif C. Summerfield, Shane Hilliard, Ciaran J. O'Connor
  • Patent number: 11170973
    Abstract: An ion source with a target holder for holding a solid dopant material is disclosed. The ion source comprises a thermocouple disposed proximate the target holder to monitor the temperature of the solid dopant material. In certain embodiments, a controller uses this temperature information to vary one or more parameters of the ion source, such as arc voltage, cathode bias voltage, extracted beam current, or the position of the target holder within the arc chamber. Various embodiments showing the connections between the controller and the thermocouple are shown. Further, embodiments showing various placement of the thermocouple on the target holder are also presented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Shreyansh P. Patel, Graham Wright, Daniel Alvarado, Daniel R. Tieger, Brian S. Gori, William R. Bogiages, Jr., Benjamin Oswald, Craig R. Chaney
  • Patent number: 11170974
    Abstract: It is provided a method for obtaining an energy spectrum of a focused ion beam when a Bragg peak chamber is used to measure an integrated depth dose, IDD. The method comprises the steps of: simulating doses of a set of nominally mono energetic focused ion beams; determining a lateral extension of a Bragg peak chamber to evaluate; calculating a set of theoretic component IDD curves, CIDDs, by laterally integrating the dose of the simulated set of the nominally mono energetic focused ion beams, over the lateral extension of the Bragg peak chamber; storing calculated CIDDs; obtaining a measured IDD of a focused ion beam with a nominal energy using the Bragg peak chamber; and performing a fit of a linear combination of CIDDs to the measured IDD, to determine an energy spectrum for the focused ion beam with the nominal beam energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: RaySearch Laboratories AB
    Inventor: Martin Janson
  • Patent number: 11170976
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a multi-beam writing method includes acquiring a plurality of pieces of position deviation data corresponding to a plurality of parameter values of a parameter that change position deviation amount of each beam of multi-beam irradiated on a substrate, calculating a plurality of pieces of reference coefficient data corresponding to each of the plurality of pieces of position deviation data, calculating coefficient data corresponding to a parameter value at an irradiation position of the multi-beam on the substrate using the plurality of pieces of reference coefficient data corresponding to the plurality of parameter values, modulating an irradiation amount of each beam of the multi-beam for each shot using the coefficient data, and writing a pattern by irradiating the substrate with each beam of at least a part of the multi-beam having the modulated irradiation amounts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Hiroshi Matsumoto
  • Patent number: 11164719
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method comprising: depositing a first amount of electric charges into a region of a sample, during a first time period; depositing a second amount of electric charges into the region, during a second time period; while scanning a probe spot generated on the sample by a beam of charged particles, recording from the probe spot signals representing interactions of the beam of charged particles and the sample; wherein an average rate of deposition during the first time period and an average rate of deposition during the second time period are different.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: ASML Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Yixiang Wang, Frank Nan Zhang
  • Patent number: 11164732
    Abstract: The mass spectrometer includes an ionizer, a mass separator, a detection device, a storage, and a controller. The detection device includes a detector and an electron introducer. The electrons from the electron introducer are introduced into the detector. In addition to an analysis operation, the mass spectrometer performs an operation to determine a voltage applied to the detector. At this point, electrons are introduced from the electron introducer to the detector. In the case that a detection value from the detector is less than a threshold, the controller can determine that a defect such as aging is generated in the detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 2, 2021
    Assignee: SHIMADZU CORPORATION
    Inventor: Hideharu Shichi
  • Patent number: 11158496
    Abstract: A miniature electrode apparatus is disclosed for trapping charged particles, the apparatus including, along a longitudinal direction: a first end cap electrode; a central electrode having an aperture; and a second end cap electrode. The aperture is elongated in the lateral plane and extends through the central electrode along the longitudinal direction and the central electrode surrounds the aperture in a lateral plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction to define a transverse cavity for trapping charged particles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    Inventors: J. Michael Ramsey, Kevin Schultze
  • Patent number: 11158485
    Abstract: A particle beam device comprises a first particle beam column for providing a first particle beam and a second particle beam column for providing a second particle beam. Operating the particle beam device may include: supplying the second particle beam with second charged particles onto an object using the second particle beam column, loading a value of a control parameter into a control unit from a database or calculating the value of the control parameter in the control unit, setting an objective lens excitation of a first objective lens of the first particle beam column using the value of the control parameter, detecting second interaction particles using a particle detector. The second interaction particles may emerge from an interaction of the second particle beam with the object when the second particle beam is incident on the object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmbH
    Inventors: Andreas Schmaunz, Wolfgang Berger
  • Patent number: 11152191
    Abstract: A charged particle system may include a first charged particle beam source provided on a first axis, and a second charged particle beam source provided on a second axis. There may also be provided a deflector arranged on the first axis. The deflector may be configured to deflect a beam generated from the second charged particle beam source toward a sample. A method of operating a charged particle beam system may include switching between a first state and a second state of operating a deflector. In the first state, a first charged particle beam generated from a first charged particle beam source may be blanked and a second charged particle beam generated from a second charged particle beam source may be directed toward a sample. In the second state, the second charged particle beam may be blanked and the first charged particle beam may be directed toward the sample.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 19, 2021
    Assignee: ASML Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Weihua Yin, Youfei Jiang
  • Patent number: 11145484
    Abstract: An analyzing apparatus includes a sample chamber, a measurement apparatus, and a gas cluster ion beam apparatus. A cooling body separates an ionization chamber of the gas cluster ion beam apparatus from a nozzle support to prevent heat emitted by an ionization filament from being transmitted to the nozzle support, and a temperature of a source gas emitted from a nozzle is kept at a constant temperature by a gas heating device while a sputtering rate is kept constant. A pressure of the source gas supplied to the nozzle is kept at constant pressure by a pressure controller, and a size of gas cluster ions is kept at a constant value. Because the sputtering rate is a constant value, highly accurate depth surface profiling can be performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignee: ULVAC-PHI, INC
    Inventors: Mauo Sogou, Hiromichi Yamazui, Daisuke Sakai, Katsumi Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11145485
    Abstract: A multiple electron beam irradiation apparatus includes a shaping aperture array substrate to form multiple primary electron beams, a plurality of electrode array substrates stacked each to dispose thereon a plurality of electrodes each arranged at a passage position of each of the multiple primary electron beams, each of the multiple primary electron beams surrounded by an electrode of the plurality of electrodes when each of the multiple primary electron beams passes through the passage position, the first wiring and the second wiring applied with one of different electric potentials, and a stage to mount thereon a target object to be irradiated with the multiple primary electron beams having passed through the plurality of electrode array substrates, wherein, in each of the plurality of electrode array substrates, each of the plurality of electrodes is electrically connected to either one of the first wiring and the second wiring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignees: NuFlare Technology, Inc., NuFlare Technology America, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Inoue, Atsushi Ando, Munehiro Ogasawara, John Hartley
  • Patent number: 11137518
    Abstract: The present invention provides a marine cable device configured for preventing or reducing biofouling along its exterior surface, which during use is at least temporarily exposed to water. The marine cable device according to the present invention comprises at least one light source configured to generate an anti-fouling light and at least one optical medium configured to receive at least part of the anti-fouling light. The optical medium comprises at least one emission surface configured to provide at least part of said anti-fouling light on at least part of said exterior surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
    Inventors: Roelant Boudewijn Hietbrink, Bart Andre Salters
  • Patent number: 11133164
    Abstract: A method of analysis is disclosed comprising providing a sample on an insulating substrate such as a petri dish 4 and contacting e.g. the rear surface of the insulating substrate with a first electrode 9. The method further comprises contacting the sample with a second electrode 2 and applying an AC or RF voltage to the first and second electrodes 9,2 in order to generate an aerosol from the sample.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Micromass UK Limited
    Inventors: Steven Derek Pringle, Lajos Godorhazy, Daniel Simon, Daniel Szalay, Zoltan Takats, Tamas Karancsi
  • Patent number: 11133148
    Abstract: When a high-performance retarding voltage applying power supply cannot be employed in terms of costs or device miniaturization, it is difficult to sufficiently adjust focus in a high acceleration region within a range of changing an applied voltage, and identify a point at which a focus evaluation value is maximum. To address the above problems, the invention is directed to a scanning electron microscope including: an objective lens configured to converge an electron beam emitted from an electron source; a current source configured to supply an excitation current to the objective lens; a negative-voltage applying power supply configured to form a decelerating electric field of the electron beam on a sample; a detector configured to detect charged particles generated when the electron beam is emitted to the sample; and a control device configured to calculate a focus evaluation value from an image formed according to an output of the detector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Hitachi High-Tech Corporation
    Inventor: Takuma Yamamoto