Patents by Inventor Christopher J. Kenney

Christopher J. Kenney 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).

  • Patent number: 11295962
    Abstract: Fabrication of vertical diodes for radiation sensing using a low temperature microwave anneal is provided. This kind of anneal allows the back side processing to be performed after the front side processing is done without damaging the front side structures. This enables a simplified fabrication of thinned detectors compared to a conventional silicon on insulator process. Another feature that this technology enables is a thin entrance window for a detector that also serves as the doped diode termination. Such thin entrance windows are especially suitable for detection of low energy radiation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
    Inventors: Christopher J. Kenney, Julie D. Segal
  • Publication number: 20200020543
    Abstract: Fabrication of vertical diodes for radiation sensing using a low temperature microwave anneal is provided. This kind of anneal allows the back side processing to be performed after the front side processing is done without damaging the front side structures. This enables a simplified fabrication of thinned detectors compared to a conventional silicon on insulator process. Another feature that this technology enables is a thin entrance window for a detector that also serves as the doped diode termination. Such thin entrance windows are especially suitable for detection of low energy radiation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 10, 2019
    Publication date: January 16, 2020
    Inventors: Christopher J. Kenney, Julie D. Segal
  • Patent number: 6551849
    Abstract: An array of micro-needles is created by forming an array pattern on the upper surface of a silicon wafer and etching through openings in the pattern to define micro-needle sized cavities having a desired depth. The mold thus formed may be filled with electrically conductive material, after which a desired fraction of the silicon wafer bulk is removed from the bottom-up by etching, to expose an array of projecting micro-needles. The mold may instead be filled with a flexible material to form a substrate useful in gene cell probing. An array of hollow micro-needles may be formed by coating the lower wafer surface with SiN, and etching through pattern openings in the upper surface down to the SiN layer, and then conformally coating the upper surface with thermal silicon dioxide. The SiN layer is then stripped away and a desired fraction of the bulk of the wafer removed from the bottom-up to expose an array of projecting hollow micro-needles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2003
    Inventor: Christopher J. Kenney
  • Patent number: 6204087
    Abstract: A radiation-damage resistant radiation detector with preferably three dimensional collection electrodes may be formed on a substrate that is a semiconductor or an insulator, and may be operated in avalanche mode to increase detection output. A detector comprising interleaved n-type and p-type preferably three dimensional electrodes formed in an area whose perimeter is an active trench. The trench is doped with dopant of opposite type polarity to that of the nearest electrodes, with respect to which the trench is reverse biased. The trench itself can act as a detector element, and the overall device exhibits edge-to-edge active detection. A plurality of such detectors may be arrayed in a plane to provide an essentially seamless large area detector suitable for medical and research applications, including synchrotron studies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2001
    Assignee: University of Hawai'i
    Inventors: Sherwood Parker, Christopher J. Kenney