Patents
US 11958739 B2: Method for ablating or roughening wafer surfaces
- Granted
- 2024-04-16
- Filed
- 2021-03-01 application 17188985
- Type
- Utility · 23 claims
- Elsewhere
- Google Patents ↗ · USPTO patent document ↗ · USPTO Patent Center record ↗
Abstract
The present invention provides a simple method for ablating a protective thin film on a bulk surface and roughening the underlying bulk. In an embodiment, silicon nitride thin films, which are useful as etch-stop masks in micro- and nano-fabrication, is removed from a silicon wafer's surface using a hand-held “flameless” Tesla-coil lighter. Vias created by a spatially localized electron beam from the lighter allow a practitioner to perform micro- and nano-fabrication without the conventional steps of needing a photoresist and photolithography. Patterning could be achieved with a hard mask or rastering of the spatially confined discharge, offering—with low barriers to rapid use—particular capabilities that might otherwise be out of reach to researchers without access to conventional, instrumentation-intensive micro- and nano-fabrication workflows.
Source: PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 (ipg240416.xml).
Assignees
| Assignee | Type | Place | Also on furp.org | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Rhode Island Board of Trustees 40 patents | US company or organization | Kingston, RI | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
Inventors
| Inventor | Place | Patents | Person page | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jason Rodger Dwyer | Providence, RI | 5 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 | |
| Y. M. Nuwan D. Y. Bandara | Gonawala, LK | 4 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 | |
| Brian Sheetz | Saunderstown, RI | 1 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
CPC categories
| Subclass | Category | First group | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| B81C | Processes or apparatus specially adapted for the manufacture or treatment of microstructural devices or systems | B81C1/00547 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
| G01N | Investigating or analysing materials by determining their chemical or physical properties | G01N21/658 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
| H01L | Semiconductor devices not covered by class h10 | H01L21/3086 | PVGPATDIS, file of 2026-04-10 |
Cooperative Patent Classification, as currently assigned (one row per subclass).
Assignments and security interests
| Recorded | What | From | To | Reel/frame | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-08-09 | Assignment Assignment of assignor's interest | BANDARA, Y.M. NUWAN D.Y. signed 2021-12-20 DWYER, JASON RODGER signed 2021-12-20 SHEETZ, BRIAN signed 2021-12-20 | UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND BOARD OF TRUSTEES KINGSTON, RI | 64534/870 | ECORSEXC, file of 2026-09-25 |
| 2021-10-04 | Government interest Confirmatory license | UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND signed 2021-03-02 | NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION ALEXANDRIA, VA | 57697/737 | ECORSEXC, file of 2026-09-25 |
Documents recorded with the USPTO Assignment Recordation Branch that list this patent. A security interest is a lender’s claim on the patent as collateral; a release ends it.
USPTO bulk data: PatentsView granted patents, disambiguated (PVGPATDIS) for patents, assignees, inventors, places and CPC categories; the USPTO Patent Assignment Dataset (ECORSEXC) for assignments and security interests. Patents filed in the last 20 years. No claims or full text. Links to other records are by name (and state): EXACT means the identical full name and state; FUZZY means a looser name match, with the confidence shown.