Fsi International, Inc.

James F Weygand

Gregory Paul Thomes

Thomas J Wagener

Kevin L Siefering

David Scott Becker

Ronald J Hanestad

Larry D Zimmerman

Pamela A Kunkel

Stiction in a microstructure may be eliminated by directing a cryogenic aerosol at the portion of the microstructure subject to stiction with sufficient force so as to free the portion of the microstructure.

Eliminating stiction with the use of cryogenic aerosol

A nozzle having a series of orifices along a longitudinal length of the nozzle for processing a substrate and which is rotatably adjustable. By the nozzle design of the present invention, liquid is properly distributed along the longitudinal length of the nozzle independently of the angle of the aerosol spray. This allows for the generation of a uniform aerosol stream that is independent of spray angle. The nozzle design of the present invention improves the uniform distribution of liquid within the nozzle, which in addition to providing a more uniform liquid pooling, also substantially eliminates temporal non-uniformities across the nozzle length. Moreover, the present invention is also directed to a nozzle that is translatable in the direction toward or away from the substrate to be processed or parallel to the substrate surface. The nozzle includes a series of impingement orifices provided in a longitudinal direction along at least a part of the nozzle, wherein the nozzle has an interior longitudinally divided into first and second internal cavities with plural openings between the first and second internal cavities, and the openings between the first and second cavities are oriented at a different radial angle from the longitudinal axis than the radial angle of the impingement orifices. Preferably, the nozzle comprises an inner tube and an outer tube operatively supported and connected with respect to one another. The present invention is also directed to the combination of such a nozzle that is rotationally and translatably adjustable independently from one another.

Rotatable and translatable spray nozzle

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Carver, MN, United States of America

James F Weygand