Patents by Inventor C. Kenneth Williams

C. Kenneth Williams 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).

  • INTEGRATED CIRCUITS AND MICROELECTRONIC STRUCTURES INCLUDING ONE OR MORE LAYERS OF GERMANIUM-CONTAINING GLASS
    Publication number: 20010048143
    Abstract: A layer of doped or undoped germanosilicate glass is formed on a substrate and the layer of germanosilicate glass is thermally treated in steam to remove germanium from the germanosilicate glass, and thereby raise the reflow temperature of the germanosilicate glass so treated. The layer of germanosilicate glass on the substrate may be a nonplanar layer of germanosilicate glass. When thermally treating the nonplanar layer of germanosilicate glass in steam, the layer of germanosilicate glass may be planarized simultaneously with the removal of germanium from the planarized germanosilicate glass. This process may be repeated to create a hierarchy of reflowed glass where each underlying layer reflows at a higher temperature than the next deposited glass layer. The steam thermal treatment step may be preceded by a thermal pretreatment of the layer of germanosilicate glass in at least one of a noble gas and nitrogen gas, to reflow the layer of germanosilicate glass.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 12, 2001
    Publication date: December 6, 2001
    Inventors: Robert T. Croswell, Arnold Reisman, Darrell L. Simpson, Dorota Temple, C. Kenneth Williams
  • Methods of raising reflow temperature of glass alloys by thermal treatment in steam, and microelectronic structures formed thereby
    Patent number: 6271150
    Abstract: A layer of doped or undoped germanosilicate glass is formed on a substrate and the layer of germanosilicate glass is thermally treated in steam to remove germanium from the germanosilicate glass, and thereby raise the reflow temperature of the germanosilicate glass so treated. The layer of germanosilicate glass on the substrate may be a nonplanar layer of germanosilicate glass. When thermally treating the nonplanar layer of germanosilicate glass in steam, the layer of germanosilicate glass may be planarized simultaneously with the removal of germanium from the planarized germanosilicate glass. This process may be repeated to create a hierarchy of reflowed glass where each underlying layer reflows at a higher temperature than the next deposited glass layer. The steam thermal treatment step may be preceded by a thermal pretreatment of the layer of germanosilicate glass in at least one of a noble gas and nitrogen gas, to reflow the layer of germanosilicate glass.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 1998
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2001
    Assignees: North Carolina State University, MCNC
    Inventors: Robert T. Croswell, Arnold Reisman, Darrell L. Simpson, Dorota Temple, C. Kenneth Williams