Gm Global Technolgoy Operations, Inc.

James C Erskine

Bernard A MacIver

John C Bierlein

David Kay Lambert

Dale Lee Partin

John Richard Troxell

Charles Robert Harrington

Marie I Harrington

Stephen J Valeri

Bernard A Mac Iver

An apparatus comprising a light source and a deformable mirror device including a matrix of individually controllable mirrors, each controllable mirror having first state reflecting light from the light source into a light path and a second state reflecting light from the light source away from the light path. An optical element is disposed in the light path projecting a virtual image of the deformable mirror device wherein the virtual image conveys information to a viewer of the projected image.

Vehicle projected display using deformable mirror device

This invention includes semiconductor devices including the heat sink with a slitted metal strip, such as copper, which is coiled or folded to produce an array of flexible flat fingers for mechanical, thermal and electrical contact with the silicon die, such as a power transistor. The use of a slitted metal strip instead of a bundle of wires makes fabrication of the flexible mount simpler and more economical. The flexible flat fingers are able to accommodate hot spots on the semiconductor device and change in thermal gradients as the device is operated. The slitted metal strip reduces mechanical stress on the die and the die attach solder to avoid solder fatigue which is a wear-out,mechanism that can cause failure of the semiconductor device; keep the magnitude of mechanical stresses from becoming large enough to fracture the silicon die; permit the use of higher melting temperature hard solders which are more resistant to solder fatigue; and permit peak operating temperatures of the semiconductor device to be higher than possible with devices that are mounted with soft die attach solder.

Low mechanical stress, high electrical and thermal conductance

An airflow sensor formed on a silicon chip comprises a silicon base covered with an insulating polyimide layer, a lineal resistance heater on the chip energized with current pulses to propagate thermal waves, and a thermistor on the chip downstream of the heater to detect the arrival of each thermal wave. Circuitry determines flow rate as a function of the measured propagation time of the thermal wave. The thermistor may be replaced by a bridge of four resistive elements of which only one or two are sensitive to the thermal wave. The thermistor material is platinum, polycrystalline silicon or amorphous silicon which exhibit high temperature coefficients of resistance.

Fluid flow sensor with thermistor detector

A resonant bridge microaccelerometer is formed using patterned Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) material. A buried layer is formed in the silicon substrate using preferably oxygen ion implanting techniques. A predetermined proof mass is subsequently formed by selective deposition of an appropriate material on an epitaxially grown layer of silicon generally over the buried layer. The buried layer is subsequently removed by a hydrofluoric acid etch, thereby forming a gap generally everywhere therebetween the proof mass and the supporting silicon substrate, and delineating the resonant microbridges within the microaccelerometer.

Method and product for fabricating a resonant-bridge microaccelerometer

An ignition system for a spark ignited internal combustion engine wherein a source of high direct voltage is connected to a spark plug by a solid-state high voltage switch. The switch comprises a plurality of series connected metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors which form a first string of series connected transistors. The system has a second string of series connected field effect transistors. The second string is connected in parallel with the spark plug and the second string is biased conductive when the first string is biased nonconductive. The system has a third string of series connected field effect transistors which operate as a voltage level shifter. The individual transistors that form the strings are mounted on common substrates formed of an insulating material such as sapphire.

Internal combustion engine ignition system

A method of fabricating polycrystalline silicon thin film field effect transistors on low cost alkaline earth alumino-silicate glass substrates which can tolerate device processing temperatures of approximately 800.degree. C.

Fabrication of polysilicon fets on alkaline earth alumino-silicate

An insulated gate field effect transistor of the depletion mode type has a recessed gate structure with opposed gate sections on opposite sides of adjacent bar-like structures defined in a channel region. An opposite conductivity-type island in the channel region is electrically connected to the transistor gate electrode. A voltage applied to the gate electrode generates an electric field effect which extends from the opposed gate sections into said bar-like structures creating opposed depletion regions which modulate channel current. The gate voltage simultaneously biases the island to enhance the gate electric field effect by removing minority charge carriers which would otherwise accumulate in the bar-like structures.

Recessed-gate junction-MOS field effect transistor

A bearing element having an adherent score-resistant coating on its surface comprising a carbonized layer of an organic resin in which the layer is carbonized by ion implantation. The ion implantation is controlled to not only provide graphite-like and diamond-like structures in the carbonized coating but to also produce chemical bonding between carbon atoms of the resultant coating and atoms of the bearing surface.

Growing community of inventors

Birmingham, MI, United States of America

James C Erskine