Patents by Inventor Alan Bahm

Alan Bahm has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240021407
    Abstract: Systems and method for the preparation and delivery of biological samples for charged particle analysis are disclosed herein. An example system at least includes an ion filter coupled to select a sample ion from an ionized sample supply, the ion filter including a quadrupole filter to select the sample ion from the sample supply, an energy reduction cell coupled to receive the selected sample ion and reduce a kinetic energy of the sample ion, a validation unit coupled to receive the sample ion and determine whether the sample ion is a target sample ion, a substrate coupled to receive the sample, wherein the substrate is electron transparent, an ion transport module coupled to receive the sample ion from the ion filter and transport the sample ion to the substrate, and an imaging system arranged to image, with a low energy charged particle beam, the sample located on the substrate, wherein the substrate is arranged in an analysis location.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2023
    Publication date: January 18, 2024
    Inventors: Marcus STRAW, Dmitry GRINFELD, Alexander MAKAROV, Alan BAHM, Aaron TOROK, Kun LIU, Joseph CHRISTIAN, Josh GILBERT, Tom NICHOLS, Jeff KOSMOSKI
  • Patent number: 11782385
    Abstract: Apparatuses and methods for improved reconstructions of electron-based holograms are disclosed herein. An example method at least includes forming a hologram of a sample and a known object, forming a reconstruction of the known object using a reconstruction algorithm, comparing the reconstruction of the known object to a reference reconstruction of the known object, and adjusting the reconstruction algorithm based on the comparison of the reconstruction of the known object to the reference reconstruction of the known object. The example method may further include forming a reconstruction of the sample using the adjusted reconstruction algorithm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2023
    Assignee: FEI Company
    Inventors: Kun Liu, Alan Bahm, Marcus Straw
  • Patent number: 11749498
    Abstract: Systems and method for the preparation and delivery of biological samples for charged particle analysis are disclosed herein. An example system at least includes an ion filter coupled to select a sample ion from an ionized sample supply, the ion filter including a quadrupole filter to select the sample ion from the sample supply, an energy reduction cell coupled to receive the selected sample ion and reduce a kinetic energy of the sample ion, a validation unit coupled to receive the sample ion and determine whether the sample ion is a target sample ion, a substrate coupled to receive the sample, wherein the substrate is electron transparent, an ion transport module coupled to receive the sample ion from the ion filter and transport the sample ion to the substrate, and an imaging system arranged to image, with a low energy charged particle beam, the sample located on the substrate, wherein the substrate is arranged in an analysis location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2023
    Assignee: FEI Company
    Inventors: Marcus Straw, Alexander Makarov, Josh Gilbert, Aaron Torok, Joseph Christian, Alan Bahm, Kun Liu, Tom Nichols, Jeff Kosmoski, Dmitry Grinfeld
  • Patent number: 11450508
    Abstract: Apparatuses and methods for comparative holographic imaging to improve structural and molecular information of reconstructions is disclosed herein. An example method at least includes acquiring a plurality of holograms of a sample, wherein each hologram of the plurality of holograms is acquired at a different electron beam energy, and determining atomic and structural information of the sample based at least on a comparison of at least two of the holograms of the plurality of holograms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2022
    Assignee: FEI Company
    Inventor: Alan Bahm
  • Publication number: 20220115205
    Abstract: Systems and method for the preparation and delivery of biological samples for charged particle analysis are disclosed herein. An example system at least includes an ion filter coupled to select a sample ion from an ionized sample supply, the ion filter including a quadrupole filter to select the sample ion from the sample supply, an energy reduction cell coupled to receive the selected sample ion and reduce a kinetic energy of the sample ion, a validation unit coupled to receive the sample ion and determine whether the sample ion is a target sample ion, a substrate coupled to receive the sample, wherein the substrate is electron transparent, an ion transport module coupled to receive the sample ion from the ion filter and transport the sample ion to the substrate, and an imaging system arranged to image, with a low energy charged particle beam, the sample located on the substrate, wherein the substrate is arranged in an analysis location.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2021
    Publication date: April 14, 2022
    Applicant: FEI Company
    Inventors: Marcus Straw, Alexander Makarov, Josh Gilbert, Aaron Torok, Joseph Christian, Alan Bahm, Kun Liu, Tom Nichols, Jeff Kosmoski, Dmitry Grinfeld
  • Patent number: 11217425
    Abstract: Systems and method for the preparation and delivery of biological samples for charged particle analysis are disclosed herein. An example system at least includes an ion filter coupled to select a sample ion from an ionized sample supply, the ion filter including a quadrupole filter to select the sample ion from the sample supply, an energy reduction cell coupled to receive the selected sample ion and reduce a kinetic energy of the sample ion, a validation unit coupled to receive the sample ion and determine whether the sample ion is a target sample ion, a substrate coupled to receive the sample, wherein the substrate is electron transparent, an ion transport module coupled to receive the sample ion from the ion filter and transport the sample ion to the substrate, and an imaging system arranged to image, with a low energy charged particle beam, the sample located on the substrate, wherein the substrate is arranged in an analysis location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: FEI Company
    Inventors: Marcus Straw, Alexander Makarov, Josh Gilbert, Aaron Torok, Joseph Christian, Alan Bahm, Kun Liu, Tom Nichols, Jeff Kosmoski, Dmitry Grinfeld
  • Publication number: 20210183610
    Abstract: Apparatuses and methods for comparative holographic imaging to improve structural and molecular information of reconstructions is disclosed herein. An example method at least includes acquiring a plurality of holograms of a sample, wherein each hologram of the plurality of holograms is acquired at a different electron beam energy, and determining atomic and structural information of the sample based at least on a comparison of at least two of the holograms of the plurality of holograms.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Publication date: June 17, 2021
    Applicant: FEI Company
    Inventor: Alan Bahm
  • Publication number: 20210181676
    Abstract: Apparatuses and methods for improved reconstructions of electron-based holograms are disclosed herein. An example method at least includes forming a hologram of a sample and a known object, forming a reconstruction of the known object using a reconstruction algorithm, comparing the reconstruction of the known object to a reference reconstruction of the known object, and adjusting the reconstruction algorithm based on the comparison of the reconstruction of the known object to the reference reconstruction of the known object. The example method may further include forming a reconstruction of the sample using the adjusted reconstruction algorithm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2019
    Publication date: June 17, 2021
    Applicant: FEI Company
    Inventors: Kun Liu, Alan Bahm, Marcus Straw
  • Publication number: 20200411282
    Abstract: Systems and method for the preparation and delivery of biological samples for charged particle analysis are disclosed herein. An example system at least includes an ion filter coupled to select a sample ion from an ionized sample supply, the ion filter including a quadrupole filter to select the sample ion from the sample supply, an energy reduction cell coupled to receive the selected sample ion and reduce a kinetic energy of the sample ion, a validation unit coupled to receive the sample ion and determine whether the sample ion is a target sample ion, a substrate coupled to receive the sample, wherein the substrate is electron transparent, an ion transport module coupled to receive the sample ion from the ion filter and transport the sample ion to the substrate, and an imaging system arranged to image, with a low energy charged particle beam, the sample located on the substrate, wherein the substrate is arranged in an analysis location.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 29, 2020
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Applicant: FEI Company
    Inventors: Marcus Straw, Alexander Makarov, Josh Gilbert, Aaron Torok, Joseph Christian, Alan Bahm, Kun Liu, Tom Nichols, Jeff Kosmoski, Dmitry Grinfeld
  • Patent number: 9204036
    Abstract: An apparatus to permit a viewer of a digital microscopy original image to manipulate the display and/or the microscope to obtain an enhanced view of a region of interest within the original image. In one preferred embodiment a spotlight mode matches the gray shade scale for a spotlight region-of-interest to the pixel intensity variation present in the spotlight region. The gray shade scale used for the spotlight mode may then be generalized to the original image. In a preferred embodiment, spotlight mode provides an easy mechanism for permitting a user to command a re-imaging of a selected spotlight region from a displayed image. Such re-imaging may permit the use of imaging parameter selections that better fit the spotlight region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignee: FEI Company
    Inventors: Alan Bahm, N. William Parker, Mark W. Utlaut