Idexx Laboratories, Inc.

National Semiconductor Corporation

Justin Jay Griffin

Carl Russell Rich

Garland Christian Misener

Mark Raymond Dumont

Jonathan William Lawrence

James M Sellers

Mark Weston Pierson

David L Connolly

Haydn B Taylor

Ross Bryan Goldman

Kenneth Eugene Smith

Stanislaw Barski

Dragan Vidacic

Mark Christopher Garrepy

Stephan Hersey

Jeffrey Eric Phelps

Alyssa J Dassa

John Palme

John Harvey McGibbon

A collection device for examining fecal matter to determine whether a patient is afflicted with parasites includes a particle accumulating plug mounted on an end of a collection tube containing a fecal specimen. The particle accumulating plug includes an inner wall that defines an inverted funnel. A pipetting port is formed through the inner wall at the apex of the inverted funnel allowing the tip of a pipette to enter the port and aspirate the ova or eggs, or other parasite cells, that have separated from the fecal specimen. The conical shape of the inner wall of the plug directs the separated parasite ova or eggs towards the pipetting port and to accumulate within the volume of the funnel of the plug so that a desired volume of fluid containing a concentrated quantity of parasite ova or eggs may be aspirated into the pipette tip through the pipetting port.

Collection device and method

A medical apparatus for analyzing fluid samples includes an outer casing, a slide loading mechanism disposed within the outer casing for loading fluid analysis slides, a slide ejecting mechanism disposed within the outer casing for ejecting fluid analysis slides, an evaporation cap opening mechanism disposed within the outer casing for opening an evaporation cap, an evaporation cap closing mechanism disposed within the outer casing for closing an evaporation cap, a drawer locking mechanism disposed within the outer casing for locking a drawer associated with the outer casing, a camera disposed within the outer casing, and a robot disposed within the outer casing. The robot is movable in three dimensions and has means for conducting three or more of the following operations: slide loading; slide ejecting; evaporation cap opening; evaporation cap closing; drawer locking; and camera manipulation.

Chemical analyzer

A chemical analyzer includes a slide transport mechanism having a slide track adapted to hold a plurality of reagent test slides, a sample metering device, an incubator formed as a part of the slide transport mechanism to precisely maintain the temperature of the reagent test slides, a slide ejector mechanism to remove the slides from the slide transport mechanism, a sample preparation station, which includes a centrifuge, and associated electronics and software. The slide transport mechanism holds a plurality of trapezoidally-shaped reagent test slides about its circumference, which slides are loaded onto the transport mechanism by the slide inserter mechanism. The slide transport mechanism positions the reagent test slides under the sample metering device, which device deposits a predetermined volume of sample onto each slide. The slide transport mechanism also carries the slides above a reflectometer. After testing has been completed, the slide ejector mechanism automatically removes the reagent test slides from the slide transport mechanism.

A retaining clip for retaining reagent test slides in a stacked arrangement is formed as a unitary member and has first, second and third plates, each having an inner surface and an outer surface. The inner surface of the first plate pivots towards the inner surface of the second plate, and the inner surface of the third plate also pivots such that the inner surfaces of the first and third plates at least partially face each other upon pivoting. The inner surfaces of the first and third plates are separated by a distance to accommodate the reagent test slides in a stacked arrangement. Alternatively, the third and second plates can be fixed rigidly to each other with only the first plate pivoting to at least partially face the third plate upon pivoting.

Retaining clip for reagent test slides

The present invention predicts Critical Dimension (CD) before processing a wafer lot and alters the etch by adjusting recipe inputs to control the current lots bias to target critical dimensions. Also, the process incorporates the use of etch chamber selection by an automated system, disallowing processing of a lot if critical dimensions are predicted to be out of control. Line caper, the angle of sidewall on the metal line, and oxide loss, the amount of oxide removed by the over etch portion of the process, are also used to monitor current tool performance and make adjustments to recipe inputs.

Method for real time metal ETCH critical dimension control

Growing community of inventors

Scarborough, ME, United States of America

Justin Jay Griffin