Abstract: A structural assembly, preferably for creation of a firewall, is constructed using anchors attached to at least a first structure and a concrete wall. Preferably, the concrete wall is also attached to a second structure as well. The body of the anchors is fabricated from a material that fails at a temperature in excess of 1,000° F. A fastening member, preferably a grommet assembly, is positioned in an elongate slot for connecting the first face to the first structure and for sliding engagement within the elongate slot in response to relative movement of the first structure and/or the second structure and the attached concrete wall.

Abstract: The present invention provides an anchor assembly for attaching a first structure to a second structure. The anchor assembly has a body having a first face and a second face. The first face is transverse to the second face and has an elongate slot. The second face has a through hole. The body is fabricated from a material that fails at a temperature in excess of 1,000° F. A fastening member is positioned in the elongate slot for connecting the first face to the first structure and for sliding engagement with the elongate slot in response to relative movement of the first structure and the second structure.

Abstract: A structural assembly using at least one anchor assembly for attaching a first structure to a second structure is described. The anchor assembly has a body having a first face and a second face. The first face is transverse to the second face and has an elongate slot. The second face has a through hole. The body is fabricated from a material that fails at a temperature in excess of 1,000° F. A fastening member is positioned in the elongate slot for connecting the first face to the first structure and for sliding engagement with the elongate slot in response to relative movement of the first structure and the second structure.

Abstract: The present invention provides an anchor assembly for attaching a first structure to a second structure. The anchor assembly has a body having a first face and a second face. The first face is transverse to the second face and has an elongate slot. The second face has a through hole. The body is fabricated from a material that fails at a temperature in excess of 1,000° F. A fastening member is positioned in the elongate slot for connecting the first face to the first structure and for sliding engagement with the elongate slot in response to relative movement of the first structure and the second structure.

Abstract: Maskless digital lithography systems and methods with image motion compensation are disclosed. The systems include an illuminator, an image transducer and a scanning device, wherein the transducer can be upstream or downstream from the scanning device. The illuminator provides illumination light that is modulated by the image transducer. The scanning device, illuminator and image transducer are operated in synchrony so that an image formed in a photoresist layer on a moving substrate forms a photoresist pattern that is not substantially smeared.

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are provided for improving the intensity profile of a beam image used to process a semiconductor substrate. At least one photonic beam may be generated and manipulated to form an image having an intensity profile with an extended uniform region useful for thermally processing the surface of the substrate. The image may be scanned across the surface to heat at least a portion of the substrate surface to achieve a desired temperature within a predetermined dwell time. Such processing may achieve a high efficiency due to the large proportion of energy contained in the uniform portion of the beam.

Abstract: Methods of and apparatus for performing direct-write lithography in a two-color photoresist layer are disclosed. The method includes exposing the two-color photoresist layer with transducer and inhibition images that respectively define bright spots and dark spots. The transducer image generates excited-state photo-molecules while the inhibition image converts the exited-state photo-molecules to an unexcited state that is not susceptible to conversion to an irreversible exposed state. The dark spots and bright spots are aligned, with the dark spots being smaller than the bright spots so that a portion of the excited-state photo-molecules adjacent the periphery of the bright spots absorb the inhibition radiation and transition to the unexcited state while a portion of the excited photo-molecules at the center of bright spots are not exposed to the inhibition light and transition to an irreversible exposed state. This forms in the two-color photoresist layer a pattern of sub-resolution photoresist pixels.

Abstract: Methods of and apparatus for performing direct-write lithography in a two-color photoresist layer are disclosed. The method includes exposing the two-color photoresist layer with transducer and inhibition images that respectively define bright spots and dark spots. The transducer image generates excited-state photo-molecules while the inhibition image converts the exited-state photo-molecules to an unexcited state that is not susceptible to conversion to an irreversible exposed state. The dark spots and bright spots are aligned, with the dark spots being smaller than the bright spots so that a portion of the excited-state photo-molecules adjacent the periphery of the bright spots absorb the inhibition radiation and transition to the unexcited state while a portion of the excited photo-molecules at the center of bright spots are not exposed to the inhibition light and transition to an irreversible exposed state. This forms in the two-color photoresist layer a pattern of sub-resolution photoresist pixels.

Abstract: Direct-write lithography apparatus and methods are disclosed in which a transducer image and an image of crossed interference fringe patterns are superimposed on a photoresist layer supported by a substrate. The transducer image has an exposure wavelength and contains bright spots, each corresponding to an activated pixel. The interference image has an inhibition wavelength and contains dark spots where the null points in the crossed interference fringes coincide. The dark spots are aligned with and trim the peripheries of the corresponding bright spot to form sub-resolution photoresist pixels having a size smaller than would be formed in the absence of the dark spots.

Abstract: Maskless digital lithography systems and methods with image motion compensation are disclosed. The systems include an illuminator, an image transducer and a scanning device, wherein the transducer can be upstream or downstream from the scanning device. The illuminator provides illumination light that is modulated by the image transducer. The scanning device, illuminator and image transducer are operated in synchrony so that an image formed in a photoresist layer on a moving substrate forms a photoresist pattern that is not substantially smeared.

Abstract: Methods of and apparatus for performing direct-write lithography in a two-color photoresist layer are disclosed. The method includes exposing the two-color photoresist layer with transducer and inhibition images that respectively define bright spots and dark spots. The transducer image generates excited-state photo-molecules while the inhibition image converts the exited-state photo-molecules to an unexcited state that is not susceptible to conversion to an irreversible exposed state. The dark spots and bright spots are aligned, with the dark spots being smaller than the bright spots so that a portion of the excited-state photo-molecules adjacent the periphery of the bright spots absorb the inhibition radiation and transition to the unexcited state while a portion of the excited photo-molecules at the center of bright spots are not exposed to the inhibition light and transition to an irreversible exposed state. This forms in the two-color photoresist layer a pattern of sub-resolution photoresist pixels.

Abstract: Direct-write lithography apparatus and methods are disclosed in which a transducer image and an image of crossed interference fringe patterns are superimposed on a photoresist layer supported by a substrate. The transducer image has an exposure wavelength and contains bright spots, each corresponding to an activated pixel. The interference image has an inhibition wavelength and contains dark spots where the null points in the crossed interference fringes coincide. The dark spots are aligned with and trim the peripheries of the corresponding bright spot to form sub-resolution photoresist pixels having a size smaller than would be formed in the absence of the dark spots.

Abstract: Microscope apparatus and methods for imaging an object with a resolution beyond the Abbe limit are disclosed. The apparatus employs an object selectively patterned with a fluorescing material that is induced to fluoresce with one wavelength and inhibited from fluorescing with a second wavelength. Two orthogonal interference-fringe patterns are generated from four diffracted light beams of an inhibiting wavelength and superimposed on the object along with light that induces fluorescence. The interference-pattern image allows only sub-resolution-sized emission areas of the object to fluoresce. Multiple images of the fluorescing object are obtained, each corresponding to a slightly different position of the fringe patterns on the substrate. Each image is processed to yield a sparsely sampled super-resolution image. Multiple sparse images are interwoven to form a complete super-resolution image of the object.

Abstract: Methods of and apparatus for performing direct-write lithography in a two-color photoresist layer are disclosed. The method includes exposing the two-color photoresist layer with transducer and inhibition images that respectively define bright spots and dark spots. The transducer image generates excited-state photo-molecules while the inhibition image converts the exited-state photo-molecules to an unexcited state that is not susceptible to conversion to an irreversible exposed state. The dark spots and bright spots are aligned, with the dark spots being smaller than the bright spots so that a portion of the excited-state photo-molecules adjacent the periphery of the bright spots absorb the inhibition radiation and transition to the unexcited state while a portion of the excited photo-molecules at the center of bright spots are not exposed to the inhibition light and transition to an irreversible exposed state. This forms in the two-color photoresist layer a pattern of sub-resolution photoresist pixels.

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are provided for improving the intensity profile of a beam image used to process a semiconductor substrate. At least one photonic beam may be generated and manipulated to form an image having an intensity profile with an extended uniform region useful for thermally processing the surface of the substrate. The image may be scanned across the surface to heat at least a portion of the substrate surface to achieve a desired temperature within a predetermined dwell time. Such processing may achieve a high efficiency due to the large proportion of energy contained in the uniform portion of the beam.

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are provided for improving the intensity profile of a beam image used to process a semiconductor substrate. At least one photonic beam may be generated and manipulated to form an image having an intensity profile with an extended uniform region useful for thermally processing the surface of the substrate. The image may be scanned across the surface to heat at least a portion of the substrate surface to achieve a desired temperature within a predetermined dwell time. Such processing may achieve a high efficiency due to the large proportion of energy contained in the uniform portion of the beam.

Abstract: Direct-write lithography apparatus and methods are disclosed in which a transducer image and an image of crossed interference fringe patterns are superimposed on a photoresist layer supported by a substrate. The transducer image has an exposure wavelength and contains bright spots, each corresponding to an activated pixel. The interference image has an inhibition wavelength and contains dark spots where the null points in the crossed interference fringes coincide. The dark spots are aligned with and trim the peripheries of the corresponding bright spot to form sub-resolution photoresist pixels having a size smaller than would be formed in the absence of the dark spots.

Abstract: Microscope apparatus and methods for imaging an object with a resolution beyond the Abbe limit are disclosed. The apparatus employs an object selectively patterned with a fluorescing material that is induced to fluoresce with one wavelength and inhibited from fluorescing with a second wavelength. Two orthogonal interference-fringe patterns are generated from four diffracted light beams of an inhibiting wavelength and superimposed on the object along with light that induces fluorescence. The interference-pattern image allows only sub-resolution-sized emission areas of the object to fluoresce. Multiple images of the fluorescing object are obtained, each corresponding to a slightly different position of the fringe patterns on the substrate. Each image is processed to yield a sparsely sampled super-resolution image. Multiple sparse images are interwoven to form a complete super-resolution image of the object.

Abstract: High-resolution, common-path interferometric imaging systems and methods are described, wherein a light source generates and directs light toward a sample from different directions. An optical imaging system collects the resultant scattered and unscattered components. A variable phase shifting system adjusts the relative phase of the components. The interfered components are sensed by an image sensing system. The process is repeated multiple times with different phase shifts to form corresponding multiple electronic signals representative of raw sample images, which are processed by a signal processor to form a processed image. Multiple processed images, each corresponding to a different illumination azimuth angle, are combined to extend the system resolution.

Abstract: Direct-write lithography apparatus and methods are disclosed in which a transducer image and an image of crossed interference fringe patterns are superimposed on a photoresist layer supported by a substrate. The transducer image has an exposure wavelength and contains bright spots, each corresponding to an activated pixel. The interference image has an inhibition wavelength and contains dark spots where the null points in the crossed interference fringes coincide. The dark spots are aligned with and trim the peripheries of the corresponding bright spot to form sub-resolution photoresist pixels having a size smaller than would be formed in the absence of the dark spots.