Patents by Inventor Steven Aggas

Steven Aggas 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).

  • Method of making a large area imager with improved signal-to-noise ratio
    Patent number: 6124606
    Abstract: This invention is related to a radiation imager (e.g. x-ray imager) and method of making same. An insulating material having a low dielectric constant is provided in areas of overlap between collector electrodes and underlying TFTs, diodes, and/or address lines in order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the imager. The TFT array and corresponding imager are made in certain embodiments by coating the address lines and TFTs with a photo-imageable insulating layer which acts as a negative resist, exposing portions of the insulating layer with UV light, removing non-exposed areas of the insulating layer so as to form contact vias, and depositing storage capacitor collecting electrodes over the insulating layer so that the collecting electrodes contact TFT source electrodes through the contact vias. The resulting imager has an improved signal-to-noise ratio due to the low dielectric constant of the insulating layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2000
    Assignee: OIS Optical Imaging Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Willem den Boer, John Z. Z. Zhong, Tieer Gu, Young H. Byun, Steven Aggas
  • Large area imager with UV blocking layer
    Patent number: 6020590
    Abstract: This invention is related to a radiation imager (e.g. X-ray imager) including a thin film transistor (TFT) array, and method of making same. A photo-imageable insulating material having a low dielectric constant is provided in areas of overlap between electrodes and underlying TFTs, diodes, and/or address lines in order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the imager. The photo-imageable insulating layer acts as a negative resist in certain embodiments, so that vias are formed therein by exposing portions of the insulating layer with UV light which are to remain on the substrate, removing non-exposed areas of the insulating layer so as to form the vias or apertures in the insulating layer. In order to prevent non-uniformities from inadvertently being imaged into the photo-imageable insulating layer, an ultraviolet (UV) blocking/absorbing layer is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2000
    Assignee: OIS Optical Imaging Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Aggas, Willem den Boer, Yiwei Lu, Scott V. Thomsen
  • Method of making a large area imager with UV Blocking layer, and corresponding imager
    Patent number: 5994157
    Abstract: This invention is related to a radiation imager (e.g. X-ray imager) including a thin film transistor (TFT) array, and method of making same. A photo-imageable insulating material having a low dielectric constant is provided in areas of overlap between electrodes and underlying TFTs, diodes, and/or address lines in order to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the imager. The photo-imageable insulating layer acts as a negative resist in certain embodiments, so that vias are formed therein by exposing portions of the insulating layer with UV light which are to remain on the substrate, removing non-exposed areas of the insulating layer so as to form the vias or apertures in the insulating layer. In order to prevent non-uniformities from inadvertently being imaged into the photo-imageable insulating layer, an ultraviolet (UV) blocking/absorbing layer is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 1998
    Date of Patent: November 30, 1999
    Assignee: OIS Optical Imaging Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Aggas, Willem den Boer, Yiwei Lu, Scott V. Thomsen