Patents by Inventor Gregory D. Miller

Gregory D. Miller 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: 7423802
    Abstract: An illumination module may provide light in a plurality of colors including Red-Green-Blue (RGB) light and/or white light. The light from the illumination module may be directed to a 3LCD system, a Digital Light Processing (DLP®) system, a Liquid Crystal on Silicon (LCoS) system, or other micro-display or micro-projection systems. In one embodiment the illumination module includes a laser configured to produce an optical beam at a first wavelength, a planar lightwave circuit coupled to the laser and configured to guide the optical beam, and a waveguide optical frequency converter coupled to the planar lightwave circuit and configured to receive the optical beam at the first wavelength, convert the optical beam at the first wavelength into an output optical beam at a second wavelength, and may provide optically coupled feedback which is nonlinearly dependent on a power of the optical beam at the first wavelength to the laser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2008
    Assignee: Collinear Corporation
    Inventor: Gregory D. Miller
  • Patent number: 7289261
    Abstract: Quasi-phasematching design to provide an approximation to a desired spectral amplitude response A(f) is provided. An initial phase response ?(f) corresponding to A(f) is generated. Preferably, d2?(f)/df2 is proportional to A2(f). Alternatively, ?(f) can be a polynomial in f. A function h(x) is computed such that h(x) and H(f)=A(f)exp(i?(f)) are a Fourier transform pair. A domain pattern function d(x) is computed by binarizing h(x) (i.e., approximating h(x) with a constant-amplitude approximation). In some cases, the response provided by this d(x) is sufficiently close to A(f) that no further design work is necessary. In other cases, the design can be iteratively improved by modifying ?(f) responsive to a difference between the desired response A(f) and the response provided by domain pattern d(x). Various approaches for binarization are provided. The availability of multiple binarization approaches is helpful for making design trades (e.g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2007
    Assignee: Collinear Corporation
    Inventor: Gregory D. Miller
  • Patent number: 7265897
    Abstract: Quasi-phasematching design to provide an approximation to a desired spectral amplitude response A(f) is provided. An initial phase response ?(f) corresponding to A(f) is generated. Preferably, d2?(f)/df2 is proportional to A2(f). Alternatively, ?(f) can be a polynomial in f. A function h(x) is computed such that h(x) and H(f)=A(f)exp(i?(f)) are a Fourier transform pair. A domain pattern function d(x) can be computed by binarizing h(x) (i.e., approximating h(x) with a constant-amplitude approximation). In some cases, the response provided by this d(x) is sufficiently close to A(f) that no further design work is necessary. In some embodiments of the invention, the need for binarization can be reduced or eliminated by providing amplitude modulation of the effective nonlinearity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2007
    Assignee: Collinear Corporation
    Inventors: Gregory D. Miller, Mark A. Arbore
  • Patent number: 7265896
    Abstract: Wavelength combining for nonlinear frequency conversion is provided having nonlinear feedback to the sources being combined. Power that is fed back to the sources is obtained from within a wavelength conversion device. Therefore, the feedback power to a source has a nonlinear dependence on input power provided by that source to the wavelength conversion device. Such nonlinear feedback can advantageously reduce the sensitivity of the output power from the wavelength conversion device to variations in the nonlinear coefficients of the conversion device. The reason for this reduced sensitivity is that in preferred embodiments, the feedback power increases if a nonlinear coefficient decreases. This increased feedback tends to increase the power supplied to the conversion device, thus mitigating the effect of the reduced nonlinear coefficient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2007
    Assignee: Collinear Corporation
    Inventor: Gregory D. Miller
  • Patent number: 7116468
    Abstract: Quasi-phasematching design to provide an approximation to a desired spectral amplitude response A(f) is provided. An initial phase response ?(f) corresponding to A(f) is generated. Preferably, d2?(f)/df2 is proportional to A2(f). A function h(x) is computed such that h(x) and H(f)=A(f)exp(i?(f)) are a Fourier transform pair. A domain pattern function d(x) is computed by binarizing h(x) (i.e., approximating h(x) with a constant-amplitude approximation). In some cases, the response provided by this d(x) is sufficiently close to A(f) that no further design work is necessary. In other cases, the design can be iteratively improved by modifying ?(f) responsive to a difference between the desired response A(f) and the response provided by domain pattern d(x). Various approaches for binarization are provided. The availability of multiple binarization approaches is helpful for making design trades (e.g., in one example, fidelity to A(f) can be decreased to increase efficiency and to increase domain size).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2006
    Assignee: Collinear Corporation
    Inventor: Gregory D. Miller
  • Patent number: 6932957
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a ferroelectric material is processed by placing the material in an environment including metal vapor and heating the material to a temperature below the Curie temperature of the material. This allows the bulk conductivity of the ferroelectric material to be increased without substantially degrading its ferroelectric domain properties. In one embodiment, the ferroelectric material comprises lithium tantalate and the metal vapor comprises zinc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2005
    Assignee: Silicon Light Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ronald O. Miles, Ludwig L. Galambos, Janos J. Lazar, Gabriel C. Risk, Alexei L. Alexandrovski, Gregory D. Miller, David Caudillo, Joseph M. McRae, Gisele L. Foulon
  • Patent number: 6893498
    Abstract: In one embodiment, lithium oxide concentration in wafers is adjusted by placing the wafers in a vessel. Vapor of a lithium oxide source is provided and absorbed by the wafers, thereby adjusting the lithium oxide concentration in the wafers. In another embodiment, a two-phase lithium-rich source is placed between wafers such that space in the process chamber is efficiently utilized. In another embodiment, the wafers to be processed are placed in a section of a process chamber (e.g., process tube). Lithium oxide is introduced on end of the process chamber. Carrier gas is also introduced on that end of the process chamber to carry the lithium oxide into the section of the process chamber where the wafers are located. By adjusting the partial pressure of lithium oxide in the process chamber, the rate at which lithium oxide is absorbed by the wafers is controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2005
    Assignee: Silicon Light Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Gregory D. Miller, Ludwig Galambos, Janos Lazar, Gabriel Risk
  • Patent number: 6877209
    Abstract: One embodiment disclosed relates to a method for sealing an active area of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) device on a wafer. The method includes providing a sacrificial material over at least the active area of the SAW device, depositing a seal coating over the wafer so that the seal coating covers the sacrificial material, and replacing the sacrificial material with a target atmosphere. Another embodiment disclosed relates to an SAW device sealed at the wafer level (i.e. prior to separation of the die from the wafer). The device includes an active area to be protected, an electrical contact area, and a lithographically-formed structure sealing at least the active area and leaving at least a portion of the electrical contact area exposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2005
    Assignee: Silicon Light Machines, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory D. Miller, Mike Bruner, Lawrence Henry Ragan, Gary Green
  • Patent number: 6846423
    Abstract: One embodiment disclosed relates to a method for sealing an active area of a non-silicon-based device on a wafer. The method includes providing a sacrificial material over at least the active area of the non-silicon-based device, depositing a seal coating over the wafer so that the seal coating covers the sacrificial material, and replacing the sacrificial material with a target atmosphere. Another embodiment disclosed relates to a non-silicon-based device sealed at the wafer level (i.e. prior to separation of the die from the wafer). The device includes an active area to be protected, a contact area, and a lithographically-formed structure sealing at least the active area and leaving at least a portion of the contact area exposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2005
    Assignee: Silicon Light Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Gregory D. Miller, Mike Bruner
  • Patent number: 6808563
    Abstract: In one embodiment, lithium oxide concentration in wafers is adjusted by placing the wafers in a vessel. Vapor of a lithium oxide source is provided and absorbed by the wafers, thereby adjusting the lithium oxide concentration in the wafers. In another embodiment, a two-phase lithium-rich source is placed between wafers such that space in the process chamber is efficiently utilized. In another embodiment, the wafers to be processed are placed in a section of a process chamber (e.g., process tube). Lithium oxide is introduced on end of the process chamber. Carrier gas is also introduced on that end of the process chamber to carry the lithium oxide into the section of the process chamber where the wafers are located. By adjusting the partial pressure of lithium oxide in the process chamber, the rate at which lithium oxide is absorbed by the wafers is controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2004
    Assignee: Silicon Light Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Gregory D. Miller
  • Patent number: 6800238
    Abstract: A method for domain patterning of nonlinear ferroelectric materials. The method seeks to reduce the formation of random and spontaneous micro-domains that typically result during thermal cycling of ferroelectric materials and which leads to patterning defects and degraded performance. In accordance with the invention, a ferroelectric wafer is provided with a conductive layer on the top and bottom surfaces of the wafer. A sufficient bias voltage is applied across the conductive layers to polarize the wafer into a single direction. At least one of the conductive layers is selectively patterned to form a conductive domain template. A sufficient revise bias voltage is then applied to the conductive domain template and a remaining conductive layer to produce the domain patterned structure. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the ferroelectric wafer is formed of LiNbO3 or LiTaO3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2004
    Assignee: Silicon Light Machines, Inc.
    Inventor: Gregory D. Miller
  • Publication number: 20040187292
    Abstract: One embodiment disclosed relates to a method for sealing an active area of a surface acoustic wave (SAW) device on a wafer. The method includes providing a sacrificial material over at least the active area of the SAW device, depositing a seal coating over the wafer so that the seal coating covers the sacrificial material, and replacing the sacrificial material with a target atmosphere. Another embodiment disclosed relates to an SAW device sealed at the wafer level (i.e. prior to separation of the die from the wafer). The device includes an active area to be protected, an electrical contact area, and a lithographically-formed structure sealing at least the active area and leaving at least a portion of the electrical contact area exposed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 9, 2004
    Publication date: September 30, 2004
    Inventors: Gregory D. Miller, Mike Bruner, Lawrence Henry Ragan, Gary Green
  • Publication number: 20040163596
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a ferroelectric material is processed by placing the material in an environment including metal vapor and heating the material to a temperature below the Curie temperature of the material. This allows the bulk conductivity of the ferroelectric material to be increased without substantially degrading its ferroelectric domain properties. In one embodiment, the ferroelectric material comprises lithium tantalate and the metal vapor comprises zinc.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2002
    Publication date: August 26, 2004
    Inventors: Ronald O. Miles, Ludwig L. Galambos, Janos J. Lazar, Gabriel C. Risk, Alexei L. Alexandrovski, Gregory D. Miller, David Caudillo, Joseph M. McRae, Gisele L. Foulon
  • Patent number: 6711575
    Abstract: Methods and systems are disclosed for providing controllable public access to information contained in government records stored in a repository, comprising the steps of: copying information from the repository to a replica database; providing a plurality of secondary databases each containing an application-specific subset of information in the replica database; and providing an application interface process for each secondary database to enable controllable access to information in a secondary database.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2004
    Assignee: SAMBA Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Jarratt Applewhite, Gregory D. Miller
  • Patent number: 6652644
    Abstract: In one embodiment, lithium oxide concentration in wafers is adjusted by placing the wafers in a vessel. Vapor of a lithium oxide source is provided and absorbed by the wafers, thereby adjusting the lithium oxide concentration in the wafers. In another embodiment, a two-phase lithium-rich source is placed between wafers such that space in the process chamber is efficiently utilized. In another embodiment, the wafers to be processed are placed in a section of a process chamber (e.g., process tube). Lithium oxide is introduced on end of the process chamber. Carrier gas is also introduced on that end of the process chamber to carry the lithium oxide into the section of the process chamber where the wafers are located. By adjusting the partial pressure of lithium oxide in the process chamber, the rate at which lithium oxide is absorbed by the wafers is controlled.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2003
    Assignee: Silicon Light Machines, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory D. Miller, Janos Lazar
  • Patent number: 6555293
    Abstract: A method for fabricating periodically poled structures. The method produces an electric field within a ferroelectric substrate by applying a voltage waveform to an electrode structure disposed on a surface of the substrate. The waveform raises the electric field magnitude to a level substantially greater than that required to reverse domains within the substrate. The waveform then lowers the voltage such that the electric field has a value at which a domain wall velocity is most sensitive to changes in the field. The waveform maintains the electric field value until a current through the substrate drops substantially. The electric field is then lowered to a value below a level required to sustain domain wall motion, but greater than a level below which backswitching occurs. The electric field is then lowered to zero in such a way as to prevent backswitching.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2003
    Assignee: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
    Inventors: Martin M. Fejer, Gregory D. Miller, Robert G. Batchko, Robert L. Byer
  • Patent number: 6542285
    Abstract: A method for fabricating periodically poled structures. The method produces an electric field within a ferroelectric substrate by applying a voltage waveform to an electrode structure disposed on a surface of the substrate. The waveform raises the electric field magnitude to a level substantially greater than that required to reverse domains within the substrate. Domain reversal continues through to completion at which time the poling field is turned off or substantially reduced to induce spontaneous backswitch poling. The forward poling field is then reapplied to stop the backswitch poling. The ability to selectively enable and terminate backswitching allows for the formation of domain patterns with small feature sizes and high uniformity through large volumes of material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2000
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2003
    Assignee: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
    Inventors: Robert G. Batchko, Gregory D. Miller, Robert L. Byer, Vladimir Shur, Martin M. Fejer
  • Patent number: 6497490
    Abstract: A laser beam attenuator and a method of attenuating a laser beam are disclosed. The laser beam attenuator includes first and second prisms, a beam dump, and a light absorbing body. An input laser beam partially refracts and partially reflects at a first surface of the first prism to form first refracted and reflected laser beams. The first reflected laser beam partially refracts and partially reflects at a second surface of the second prism to form second refracted and reflected laser beams. The beam dump and the light absorbing body absorb the first and second refracted laser beams. Thus, the second reflected laser beam forms an attenuated laser beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2002
    Assignees: Silicon Light Machines, Nutech Optical Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Gregory D. Miller, Ying-Moh Liu
  • Publication number: 20020087552
    Abstract: Methods and systems are disclosed for comparing customer data to data in an application database based on criteria from a customer using a query application; sending a set of results from the query application to an output interface application; and sending output data from the output interface application to the customer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2001
    Publication date: July 4, 2002
    Applicant: Samba Holdings, Inc.
    Inventors: Jarratt Applewhite, Gregory D. Miller, Christopher McKay
  • Patent number: 6156255
    Abstract: A method of patterning domains within a body of a ferroelectric material includes the application of an electric field thereto via spaced conductors. Prior to applying the electric field to the material effects on the patterning of the existence of fringe electric field components which will be created in said body by said application of an electric field, surface treatments, and relative geometries of the body and the conductors are examined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2000
    Assignee: The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford, Jr. University
    Inventors: Robert L. Byer, Martin M. Fejer, Gregory D. Miller, Lawrence E. Myers