Patents by Inventor Robert L. Love

Robert L. Love 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).

  • Process and apparatus for detecting aberrations in production process operations
    Patent number: 4846928
    Abstract: An improved apparatus and process for detecting aberrations in production process operations is provided. In one embodiment, operations of a plasma etch reactor (10) are monitored to detect aberrations in etching operations. A reference end-point trace (EPT) is defined (62) for the etch process. Regions are defined in the reference end-point trace (70) and characteristics and tolerances for each region are defined (72-80). The etcher is run and an actual EPT is obtained (82) from the running of the etcher. The actual EPT is analyzed to identify proposed regions of the actual EPT (86), and then the proposed regions of the actual EPT are matched with regions of the reference EPT (96). The system employs a series of heuristic functions in matching proposed regions of the actual EPT with regions of the reference EPT.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 22, 1988
    Date of Patent: July 11, 1989
    Assignee: Texas Instruments, Incorporated
    Inventors: Steven B. Dolins, Aditya Srivastava, Bruce E. Flinchbaugh, Sarma S. Gunturi, Thomas W. Lassiter, Robert L. Love