Abstract: Implementations of the disclosed subject matter may provide a method of retrieving a data record including historic utility bill statements of a customer, determining a historic energy usage rate of the customer based on the retrieved data record, and determining whether the customer is eligible to subscribe to a community solar energy generating system based on geographic location of the community solar energy generating system, the determined historic energy usage rate of the customer, and the customer's geographic location. The method may determine an allocation of energy produced by the community solar energy generating system when the eligible customer is enrolled in a subscription to the community solar energy generating system. The method may generate a customer data record for the user based on credits for the allocation of energy of the community solar energy generating system and receiving energy from another energy generating system.

Abstract: An edge area of the substrate processing device is disclosed. The edge area being processed is isolated from the remainder of the substrate by directing a flow of an inert gas through a plenum near the area to be processed thus forming a barrier while directing a flow of reactive species at an angle relative to the top surface of the substrate towards the substrate edge area thus processing the substrate edge area. A flow of oxygen containing gas into the processing chamber together with a negative exhaust pressure may contribute to the biasing of reactive species and other gases away from the non-processing areas of the substrate. A clean ignition system is used to ignite the combustion flame.

Abstract: An edge area of the substrate processing device is disclosed. The edge area being processed is isolated from the remainder of the substrate by directing a flow of an inert gas through a plenum near the area to be processed thus forming a barrier while directing a flow of reactive species at an angle relative to the top surface of the substrate towards the substrate edge area thus processing the substrate edge area. A flow of oxygen containing gas into the processing chamber together with a negative exhaust pressure may contribute to the biasing of reactive species and other gases away from the non-processing areas of the substrate. A seal arrangement is provided for the processing chamber.

Abstract: An edge area of the substrate processing device is disclosed. The edge area being processed is isolated from the remainder of the substrate by directing a flow of an inert gas through a plenum near the area to be processed thus forming a barrier while directing a flow of reactive species at an angle relative to the top surface of the substrate towards the substrate edge area thus processing the substrate edge area. A flow of oxygen containing gas into the processing chamber together with a negative exhaust pressure may contribute to the biasing of reactive species and other gases away from the non-processing areas of the substrate.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for dry chemical processing a wafer at atmospheric pressure is disclosed. The edge area of a substrate is placed in isolation from the remainder of the substrate. According to the present teachings, a method for centering a wafer on a rotatable chuck is provided. The method includes the steps of positioning a wafer adjacent to a micrometer. The wafer is then rotated and a plurality of wafer edge locations and rotational increments are measured. A center offset value for the value of the wafer center with respect to a chuck is calculated. The wafer is then moved with respect to a center position of the chuck.

Abstract: A substrate illumination and inspection system provides for illuminating and inspecting a substrate particularly the substrate edge. The system uses a light diffuser with a plurality of lights disposed at its exterior or interior for providing uniform diffuse illumination of a substrate. An optic and imaging system exterior of the light diffuser are used to inspect the plurality of surfaces of the substrate including specular surfaces. The optic is held at an angle from a surface normal to avoid reflective artifacts from the specular surface of the substrate. The optic can be rotated radially relative to a center point of the substrate edge to allow for focused inspection of all surfaces of the substrate edge. The plurality of lights can modulate color and intensity of light to enhance inspection of the substrate for defects.

Abstract: An isolative substrate edge area processing method and apparatus is described. The apparatus has an isolator for isolating and processing by dry chemical technique a portion of a substrate including a substrate edge region. The isolator has nozzles for directing a flow of reactive species towards the edge area of the substrate and a purge plenum for biasing flow of reactive species towards an exhaust plenum while the substrate rotates on a chuck. Tuned flow control prevents migration of reactive species and reaction byproducts out of the processing area. A method for processing a substrate with the isolator involves directing a flow of reactive species at an angle towards an edge area of the substrate while forming a boundary around the processing area with flow control provided by the purge plenum, and exhaust plenum.

Abstract: A substrate processing method and apparatus using a combustion flame of a gaseous mixture of hydrogen and a non-oxygen oxidizer is described. The method uses the hydrogen and non-oxygen oxidizer combustion flame to impinge upon a substrate surface for chemically reacting with a thin film on the surface and thus etching the substrate. The method is performed in a substantially inert and non-ionized environment at a substantially atmospheric pressure. An apparatus for processing a substrate with the method has a processing chamber for containing the inert environment and a nozzle head for directing the combustion flame towards a substrate retained upon a substrate holder. In an embodiment, an edge nozzle assembly is angled towards the edge of the wafer for treating the near-edge and edge of the wafer. In this embodiment, a heater preheats the substrate in the near-edge region to be processed.

Abstract: A circuit testing approach involves configurable switch control for automatically detecting and routing test signals along a plurality of test circuit paths (240, 242, 244). According to an example embodiment of the present invention, a microcontroller (205) is programmed to monitor input nodes (210) using an interrupt routine for automatically detecting test signals (i.e., digital and/or JTAG test signals). Upon the detection of the test signals, the microcontroller controls a controllable switch (220) for routing the test data along one of the test circuit paths. With this approach, manual switching for routing the test signals is not necessary, which has been found to be useful in applications where access to the circuit paths for switching is difficult or impossible.

Abstract: A circuit testing and control approach involves configurable switch control for automatically detecting and routing test signals along a plurality of test circuit paths. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, graphical user interface (GUI) (240) includes stored computer-executable code that, when executed, causes a micro-computer circuit to send configuration signals to a microcontroller (220). A configurable circuit (215) coupled to the microcontroller is then configured by the microcontroller, in response to the configuration signals, for routing test signals using controllable switches. In one implementation, the configurable circuit includes circuits on inter-connectable circuit boards (210, 250, 260), with sense nodes for detecting the presence of an inter-connectable circuit board coupled to another. In response to the detected presence (or lack thereof), the controllable switches control the routing of the test signals between the inter-connectable circuit boards.