Texas Instruments Corporation

Cvc Products, Inc.

Other

Cvc, Inc.

United States of America As Represented by the Secretary of the Air Force

Cecil J Davis

Robert T Matthews

Rhett B Jucha

Lee M Loewenstein

Mehrdad M Moslehi

John I Jones

Joseph D Luttmer

Randall C Hildenbrand

Rudy L York

Dean W Freeman

Ajit P Paranjpe

Patricia Beauregard Smith

Duane E Carter

Dorian Heimanson

Shiyuan Cheng

John E Spencer

Sue E Crank

Habib N Najm

Randall E Johnson

Steve S Huang

Wayne G Fisher

Xiangqun Chen

James B Burris

Monte A Douglas

Thomas R Omstead

Ming-Jang Hwang

Cesar M Garza

Robert A Bowling

Joel T Tomlin

James G Bohlman

Frederick W Brown

Jeff D Achenbach

Dwain R Jakubik

Stanford P Kohan

Bruce Simpson

Joseph V Abernathy

Thomas Dyer Bonifield

Yong Jin Lee

Chi-Cheong Shen

George R Misium

Gregory E Gardner

Robert G McKenna

Larry D Hutchins

Jiann Liu

Dan T Hockersmith

Phillip Chapados, Jr

Jing Shing Shu

Tommy J Bennett

Timothy A Wooldridge

Lee M Lowenstein

Don Brown

William J Stiltz

David Durin

Joseph E Whetsel

Brian Dufour

Christopher J Mann

John D Lawrence

Tom Tang

James B Hunter

Joe V Abernathy

Timothy J Wooldridge

Devices, assemblies, and methods for arranging and dispensing medication are shown and described. In one embodiment, a medication dispensing assembly includes a first single dose tray having a plurality of dosage complexes and a first label face, and at least a second single dose tray having a plurality of dosage complexes and a second label face. Each dosage complex has a unitary blister pocket adjacent to an L-shaped opening. In other embodiments, a single dose medication tray includes a label platform and a plurality of dosage complex groupings. The result is devices and methods to orient and dispense individually packaged medications.

Layered multiple single-dose medication systems and assemblies

An apparatus and method for depositing plural layers of materials on a substrate within a single vacuum chamber allows high-throughput deposition of structures such as these for GMR and MRAM application. An indexing mechanism aligns a substrate with each of plural targets according to the sequence of the layers in the structure. Each target deposits material using a static physical-vapor deposition technique. A shutter can be interposed between a target and a substrate to block the deposition process for improved deposition control. The shutter can also preclean a target or the substrate and can also be used for mechanical chopping of the deposition process. In alternative embodiments, plural substrates may be aligned sequentially with plural targets to allow simultaneous deposition of plural structures within the single vacuum chamber. A monitoring and control device can be wed to optimize equipment state, process state, and wafer state parameters by sensing each respective state during or after the deposition process.

Apparatus and method for multi-target physical-vapor deposition of a multi-layer material structure

Rapid thermal cycling of substrates in low-pressure processing environments is achieved by movable temperature conditioners located outside the processing environments. The substrates are mounted on thermally conductive pedestals for processing in the low-pressure environment. The temperature conditioners are movable both into and out of thermal contact with the pedestals outside the low-pressure environment to regulate transfers of heat through the pedestals between the substrates and the temperature conditioners. A translatable cooler block with a high thermal mass and a large interface area with the pedestal can be used as a temperature conditioner for more rapidly withdrawing heat from the substrate.

Rapid cycle chuck for low-pressure processing

A method and apparatus for separating a wafer into wafer portions comprising a larger wafer flex-frame ( ) supported on a support base ( ) and a smaller flex-frame ( ) positioned within the support base ( ). A wafer film transfer cylinder ( ) encompasses a wafer breaking device ( ), such as a convex dome. The transfer cylinder ( ) is slidable downwardly with respect to the dome ( ) to first stretch the wafer tape ( ) and then transfer the wafer ( ) from the larger frame ( ) to the smaller frame ( ) after dome ( ) breaks the wafer ( ) into die. The transfer cylinder ( ) is heated to facilitate removing the saw tape ( ) from the larger frame ( ) after transfer to the smaller frame ( ). The transfer cylinder ( ) is juxtaposed with the smaller frame ( ) residing within a cavity ( ) of the support base ( ). The present invention is suited for automated wafer transfer carriers which advance the broken wafer to pick and place equipment for packaging of the die.

Method and apparatus for stretching and processing saw film tape after breaking a partially sawn wafer

A low-pressure processor for processing substrates includes a chuck that engages the substrates' peripheries for purposes of clamping, sealing, and centering the substrates on chuck bodies. For accomplishing all three purposes, a mechanical clamp can be arranged with two sealing regions. One of the sealing regions seals the clamp to a chuck body or an extension of the chuck body, and another of the sealing regions engages a peripheral edge surface of a substrate for sealing the clamp to the substrate. The second sealing region includes an inclined seating surface that engages a front edge of the substrate's peripheral edge surface and divides a clamping force into a first component that presses the substrate against the chuck body and a second component that centers the substrate on the chuck body. The peripheral engagement of the substrate exposes substantially the entire front surface of the substrate to processing and exposes substantially the entire back surface of the substrate to a heat-transfer gas for enhancing thermal transfers between the substrate and the temperature-regulated chuck body.

Edge sealing structure for substrate in low-pressure processing environment

An electromagnet having one or more coils wrapped around a plate-shaped core produces a uniaxial magnetic field in the vicinity of a substrate surface for orienting a magnetic film deposited onto the substrate surface. Variations in the magnetic mass of the plate-shaped core or in the magnetic permeability of the core mass are made to reduce angular skew and to improve uniformity of the uniaxial magnetic field. The variations generally involve a reduction in magnetic mass or permeability near a center of the core with respect to a periphery of the core. Cavities of various sizes and shapes but having symmetry with a magnetic axis can be formed in the core for this purpose.

Thin-film processing electromagnet with modified core for producing low-skew magnetic orientation

Material is deposited from an active shutter onto a substrate located in a processing chamber housing with a shutter target coupled to a shutter target assembly. A first target assembly located in the housing supports a target for physical-vapor deposition of a first material onto the substrate. A shutter is selectively moveable to extend into a closed or activated position and to retract into an open position. The shutter target assembly is coupled to the shutter such that when the shutter is in the closed position, the shutter target assembly is positioned to allow deposition of material from the shutter target onto the substrate. When the shutter is in the open position, the first target is positioned to deposit material onto the substrate. Alternating layers of materials may be deposited by the shutter target and first target by cycling the shutter between an open position and a closed position.

Method and apparatus for thin film deposition using an active shutter

A magnetron sputtering system is provided that uses cooling channels in the magnetron assembly to cool the target. The magnetron sputtering system also generates low pressure region in the magnetron assembly such that the backing plate sees a pressure differential much lower than atmospheric pressure. In one embodiment, the backing plate includes a center post to support the backing plate during operation. The backing plate is reduced in thickness and provides less of a barrier to the generated magnetic field.

Physical vapor deposition system having reduced thickness backing plate

An electromagnet assembly magnetically orients a thin magnetic film deposited onto a surface of a substrate. The magnetic orientation can take place in a low-pressure processing environment such as during the deposition of the thin magnetic film or during a subsequent operation such as annealing. The electromagnet assembly includes a plate-shaped core located adjacent to the substrate and two or more electromagnetic coils that are wrapped in different directions around the core. Electrical currents conveyed through the electromagnetic coils are controlled for orienting a substantially uniaxial magnetic field throughout a range of angular positions in a plane of the substrate surface.

Method of magnetically orienting thin magnetic films with a

An electromagnet having one or more coils wrapped around a plate-shaped core produces a uniaxial magnetic filed in the vicinity of a substrate surface for orienting a magnetic film deposited onto the substrate surface. Variations in the magnetic mass of the plate-shaped core or in the magnetic permeability of the core mass are made to reduce angular skew and to improve uniformity of the uniaxial magnetic field. The variations generally involve a reduction in magnetic mass or permeability near a center of the core with respect to a periphery of the core. Cavities of various sizes and shapes but having symmetry with a magnetic axis can be formed in the core for this purpose.

Thin-film processing electromagnet for low-skew magnetic orientation

Substrate edge seal and clamp for low-pressure processing equipment

Multiple-coil electromagnet for magnetically orienting thin films

A magnetron sputtering system is provided that uses a backing plate assembly having an insulating spacer ring coupled between and hermetically sealed to the backing plate and an extender ring. The insulating spacer ring can be constructed from a ceramic material, and the extender ring can be constructed from a metal material. The use of this backing plate assembly allows the backing plate assembly to be coupled directly to the chamber walls with a metal-to-metal contact, while the backing plate remains electrically isolated from the chamber walls. This allows the sealing of a vacuum chamber in the magnetron sputtering system using a seal suitable for creating an ultra-high vacuum in the vacuum chamber.

Ultra-high vacuum apparatus and method for high productivity physical

This is a curing method of low-k dielectric material in a semiconductor device and system for such. The method may comprise: depositing metal interconnection lines; depositing the low-k dielectric material layer over the lines; and curing the low-k dielectric material layer with a heating lamp for less than 10 minutes, wherein the heating lamp provides optical radiation energy in the infrared spectral range of about 1 micron to 3.5 microns in wavelength. The heating lamp may be a tungsten-halogen lamp.

High throughput optical curing process for semiconductor device

A magnetron sputtering system is provided that uses cooling channels in the magnetron assembly to cool the target. The magnetron sputtering system also generates low pressure region in the magnetron assembly such that the backing plate sees a pressure differential much lower than atmospheric pressure. The backing plate is reduced in thickness and provides less of a barrier to the generated magnetic field.

High magnetic flux cathode apparatus and method for high productivity

Growing community of inventors

Greenville, TX, United States of America

Cecil J Davis