The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 05, 2011
Filed:
Aug. 14, 2008
Vladimir Ukraintsev, Allen, TX (US);
Vladimir Ukraintsev, Allen, TX (US);
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
A system () for characterizing surfaces can include a nanotip microscope () in a first pressure envelope () at a first pressure with an electrically conductive nanotip () mounted thereon for characterizing a sample surface. The system can also include an ion imaging system () within a second pressure envelope () at a second pressure. The second pressure can less than or equal to the first pressure and the pressure envelopes () can be separated by a pressure limiting aperture (PLA) (). The system can further include gas sources () for introducing into the first pressure envelope () at least one gas, and a voltage supply () coupled to the nanotip () for generating an electric field between the nanotip () and the PLA (). In the system, the electric field repels and ionizes molecules or atoms of the gas in proximity to the nanotip () and the ion imaging system () collects at least a portion the repelled and ionized molecules or atoms traversing the PLA () to image the nanotip ().