Patents by Inventor Norman Whitelaw Robson

Norman Whitelaw Robson 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: 9029234
    Abstract: One of the wafers in a semiconductor wafer to wafer stack can be rotated a predefined number of positions, relative to a previous wafer in the stack, and bonded in the position in which the maximum number of good die are aligned. An adjustment circuit on each die reroutes signals received from a pad that has been relocated due to rotation. A communication channel formed from a pair of pads that are interconnected by a Through Substrate Vias can be placed in each die and can convey selected information from one die to the next. A code representative of the position orientation of each die can be recorded in a Programmable Read Only Memory located on each die, or may be down loaded from a remote source. Any additional wafer may be stacked serially, and each one may be rotated relative to the wafer that precedes it in the stack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John Matthew Safran, Daniel Jacob Fainstein, Gary W. Maier, Yunsheng Song, Norman Whitelaw Robson
  • Publication number: 20130307159
    Abstract: One of the wafers in a semiconductor wafer to wafer stack can be rotated a predefined number of positions, relative to a previous wafer in the stack, and bonded in the position in which the maximum number of good die are aligned. An adjustment circuit on each die reroutes signals received from a pad that has been relocated due to rotation. A communication channel formed from a pair of pads that are interconnected by a Through Substrate Vias can be placed in each die and can convey selected information from one die to the next. A code representative of the position orientation of each die can be recorded in a Programmable Read Only Memory located on each die, or may be down loaded from a remote source. Any additional wafer may be stacked serially, and each one may be rotated relative to the wafer that precedes it in the stack.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2012
    Publication date: November 21, 2013
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: John Matthew Safran, Daniel Jacob Fainstein, Gary W. Maier, Yunsheng Song, Norman Whitelaw Robson
  • Patent number: 8159040
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure and a method for fabricating the semiconductor structure provide a field effect device located and formed upon an active region of a semiconductor substrate and at least one of a fuse structure, an anti-fuse structure and a resistor structure located and formed at least in part simultaneously upon an isolation region laterally separated from the active region within the semiconductor substrate. The field effect device includes a gate dielectric comprising a high dielectric constant dielectric material and a gate electrode comprising a metal material. The at least one of the fuse structure, anti-fuse structure and resistor structure includes a pad dielectric comprising the same material as the gate dielectric, and optionally, also a fuse, anti-fuse or resistor that may comprise the same metal material as the gate electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas D. Coolbaugh, Ebenezer E. Eshun, Ephrem G. Gebreselasie, Zhong-Xiang He, Herbert Lei Ho, Deok-kee Kim, Chandrasekharan Kothandaraman, Dan Moy, Robert Mark Rassel, John Matthew Safran, Kenneth Jay Stein, Norman Whitelaw Robson, Ping-Chuan Wang, Hongwen Yan
  • Publication number: 20090283840
    Abstract: A semiconductor structure and a method for fabricating the semiconductor structure provide a field effect device located and formed upon an active region of a semiconductor substrate and at least one of a fuse structure, an anti-fuse structure and a resistor structure located and formed at least in part simultaneously upon an isolation region laterally separated from the active region within the semiconductor substrate. The field effect device includes a gate dielectric comprising a high dielectric constant dielectric material and a gate electrode comprising a metal material. The at least one of the fuse structure, anti-fuse structure and resistor structure includes a pad dielectric comprising the same material as the gate dielectric, and optionally, also a fuse, anti-fuse or resistor that may comprise the same metal material as the gate electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 13, 2008
    Publication date: November 19, 2009
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Douglas D. Coolbaugh, Ebenezer E. Eshun, Ephrem G. Gebreselasie, Zhong-Xiang He, Herbert Lei Ho, Deok-kee Kim, Chandrasekharan Kothandaraman, Dan Moy, Robert Mark Rassel, John Matthew Safran, Kenneth Jay Stein, Norman Whitelaw Robson, Ping-Chuan Wang, Hongwen Yan
  • Publication number: 20090267179
    Abstract: A system in one embodiment includes a multiprocessor chip comprising a plurality of cores; a plurality of power circuits, each power circuit being coupled to one of the cores; and an electrically programmable fuse in each power circuit. Each electrically programmable fuse further comprises a first electrode coupled to the associated power circuit; a second electrode coupled to the associated power circuit; a first pad coupled to the first electrode; a second pad coupled to the second electrode; and an electrically conductive material extending between the first and second electrodes and forming part of the associated power circuit, the electrically conductive material being characterized as tending to electromigrate from one of the electrodes to the other electrode under an applied electrical current passing between the electrodes, wherein the electromigration increases an overall resistance of the power circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2008
    Publication date: October 29, 2009
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Subramanian S. Iyer, Babar Ali Khan, Chandrasekharan Kothandaraman, Norman Whitelaw Robson
  • Patent number: 6957372
    Abstract: An integrated circuit having a DRAM array connected to a power supply is tested for excessive current draw by selectively applying voltage to a single wordline or bitline, measuring current drawn, comparing the result with a reference number representing acceptable leakage, and replacing columns of the array having excessive leakage, thereby identifying and repairing latent defects that may become a cause of failure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2005
    Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation, Infineon Technologies, AG
    Inventors: John Edward Barth, Jr., Paul Christian Parries, Norman Whitelaw Robson
  • Publication number: 20040039535
    Abstract: An integrated circuit having a DRAM array connected to a power supply is tested for excessive current draw by selectively applying voltage to a single wordline or bitline, measuring current drawn, comparing the result with a reference number representing acceptable leakage, and replacing columns of the array having excessive leakage, thereby identifying and repairing latent defects that may become a cause of failure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2002
    Publication date: February 26, 2004
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: John Edward Barth,, Paul Christian Parries, Norman Whitelaw Robson