Patents by Inventor Robert Douglas Mikkola

Robert Douglas Mikkola 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: 11378511
    Abstract: A method for detecting corrosion on a conductive object includes submerging a surface of the conductive object at least partially in an aqueous solution, flowing current through the surface of the conductive object by forming a voltage differential across the surface, varying the voltage differential across the surface while monitoring the current through the surface of the conductive object, determining a total charge corresponding to a corrosion level of the surface of the conductive object based on current versus voltage levels. The corrosion level may further be utilized in selecting a cleaning process to remediate the corrosion of the surface based on the corrosion level and in applying a protective corrosion barrier to on at least part of the surface after the cleaning process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 5, 2022
    Assignee: APPLIED MATERIALS, INC.
    Inventors: Gang Grant Peng, Robert Douglas Mikkola, David Britz, Lance Scudder, David W. Groechel
  • Publication number: 20210156789
    Abstract: A method for detecting corrosion on a conductive object includes submerging a surface of the conductive object at least partially in an aqueous solution, flowing current through the surface of the conductive object by forming a voltage differential across the surface, varying the voltage differential across the surface while monitoring the current through the surface of the conductive object, determining a total charge corresponding to a corrosion level of the surface of the conductive object based on current versus voltage levels. The corrosion level may further be utilized in selecting a cleaning process to remediate the corrosion of the surface based on the corrosion level and in applying a protective corrosion barrier to on at least part of the surface after the cleaning process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2019
    Publication date: May 27, 2021
    Inventors: Gang Grant PENG, Robert Douglas MIKKOLA, David BRITZ, Lance SCUDDER, David W. GROECHEL
  • Patent number: 6297155
    Abstract: A method for electroplating a copper layer (118) over a wafer (20) powers a cathode of an electroplating system (10) in a manner that obtains improved copper interconnects. A control system (34) powers the cathode of the system (10) with a mix of two or more of: (i) positive low-powered DC cycles (201 or 254); (ii) positive high-powered DC cycles (256 or 310); (iii) low-powered, pulsed, positive-power cycles (306 or 530); (iv) high-powered, pulsed, positive-powered cycles (212, 252, 302, or 352); and/or (v) negative pulsed cycles (214, 304, 510, 528, or 532). The collection of these cycles functions to electroplate copper or a like metal (118) onto the wafer (20). During electroplating, insitu process control and/or endpointing (506, 512, or 520) is performed to further improve the resulting copper interconnect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2001
    Assignee: Motorola Inc.
    Inventors: Cindy Reidsema Simpson, Robert Douglas Mikkola, Matthew T. Herrick, Brett Caroline Baker, David Moralez Pena, Edward Acosta, Rina Chowdhury, Marijean Azrak, Cindy Kay Goldberg, Mohammed Rabiul Islam