| Multi-wafer handling system | US12745602 | Sep 22, 2026 | A rotating wafer gripper with compliant retention fingers that catch and clamp wafers and flip them 180 degrees. |
| Process system, method, and substrate chuck | US12733442 | Sep 8, 2026 | A chamber with a chuck arm that moves the wafer under a process nozzle and a docking station that resets the chuck temperature between steps. |
| Automated fault detection in microfabrication | US12593646 | Mar 31, 2026 | Trains a neural network on tool machine data and operating codes to automatically flag faults in semiconductor process tools. |
| Substrate scanning apparatus with pendulum and rotatable substrate holder | US12334348 | Jun 17, 2025 | A pendulum arm with a rotary drive at each end swings in alternating arcs to raster-scan a wafer under a localized processing spot. |
| Wafer scanning apparatus and method for focused beam processing | US11915906 | Feb 27, 2024 | Scans the wafer at a fixed twist angle using the dual-rotary-drive planar scanner during ion beam passes. |
| Tuning gas cluster ion beam systems | US11715620 | Aug 1, 2023 | Pulses the ionizer and times the beam current at a detector (time-of-flight) to get the cluster size distribution, then tunes the process. |
| Pattern enhancement using a gas cluster ion beam | US11694872 | Jul 4, 2023 | Continuation claims on GCIB sidewall etching to change feature width. |
| Wafer scanning apparatus and method for focused beam processing | US11587760 | Feb 21, 2023 | Two synchronized rotary drives and a bar-and-hinge linkage turn rotation into flat planar wafer motion for scanning under a focused beam. |
| Pattern enhancement using a gas cluster ion beam | US11450506 | Sep 20, 2022 | Uses an angled GCIB to etch feature sidewalls and change feature width along one direction, for pattern trimming. |
| Compensated location specific processing apparatus and method | US10861674 | Dec 8, 2020 | Continuation claims on the duty-cycle beam-flux control coordinated with scanner motion for location-specific processing. |
| Compensated location specific processing apparatus and method | US10497540 | Dec 3, 2019 | Switches the beam flux on a duty cycle, coordinated with the wafer scanner, so different spots on the wafer can get different processing. |
| Process gas enhancement for beam treatment of a substrate | US9735019 | Aug 15, 2017 | Injects a controlled secondary gas downstream of the cluster-beam nozzle to improve how the beam treats the substrate. |
| GCIB nozzle assembly | US9343259 | May 17, 2016 | A GCIB nozzle made of two aligned conical sections joined by a short cylindrical transition, used to form the beam for etching. |
| Molecular beam enhanced GCIB treatment | US9236221 | Jan 12, 2016 | Crosses one or more molecular gas beams with the GCIB to raise pressure locally and improve etch processing. |
| Low contamination scanner for GCIB system | US9029808 | May 12, 2015 | The belt-driven two-axis GCIB scanner with added shields to reduce contamination from beam scattering off the scanner. |
| Multiple nozzle gas cluster ion beam system | US8981322 | Mar 17, 2015 | A nozzle-and-skimmer assembly with two or more closely spaced or angled nozzles whose cluster beams merge or cross before going into the skimmer. |
| Scanner for GCIB system | US8791430 | Jul 29, 2014 | A two-axis wafer scanner for GCIB/ion beams that does the slow-scan motion with a servo motor and belt drive to make it more reliable. |
| Method of irradiating substrate with gas cluster ion beam formed from multiple gas nozzles | US8304033 | Nov 6, 2012 | Uses a multi-nozzle GCIB fed by separate gases (for example silicon- and oxygen-containing) to grow or deposit layers, including SiO2 shallow trench isolation. |
| Multiple nozzle gas cluster ion beam processing system and method of operating | US8097860 | Jan 17, 2012 | A GCIB system with several nozzles that make two or more beams to dope, deposit, etch or smooth a wafer at the same time or one after another. |
| Method and apparatus for controlling a gas cluster ion beam formed from a gas mixture | US7825389 | Nov 2, 2010 | Measures the composition of the mixed process gas (in the supply or the vacuum vessel) and adjusts the wafer exposure based on that reading. |
| Apparatus and method for reducing particulate contamination in gas cluster ion beam processing equipment | US7642531 | Jan 5, 2010 | A two-part beam-defining aperture whose projecting member trims the GCIB before it reaches the workpiece, reducing particle contamination. |
| Method and apparatus for scanning a workpiece through an ion beam | US7608843 | Oct 27, 2009 | Mounts the wafer on a jointed arm that swings it back and forth through the beam in an arc and folds it out of the beam path for loading and unloading. |
| Method and apparatus for improved beam stability in high current gas-cluster ion beam processing system | US7060988 | Jun 13, 2006 | Shielding conductors and separate electrical biasing near the ionizer stop ions from being pulled backward, cutting beam transients in high-current GCIB systems. |
| Method and apparatus for improved processing with a gas-cluster ion beam | US7060989 | Jun 13, 2006 | Sends the energetic gas-cluster beam through a higher-pressure region to change the cluster energy distribution and improve workpiece processing. |
| Detector and method for cluster ion beam diagnostics | US6737643 | May 18, 2004 | A Faraday-cup detector that also reads gas pressure, so it measures ion current and mass flux together and estimates the average size of gas-cluster ions. |
| Gas cluster ion beam smoother apparatus | US6486478 | Nov 26, 2002 | A complete gas-cluster ion beam tool (ionizer, focusing optics, magnetic filter, scanning, wafer load/unload) built to smooth substrate surfaces. |
| Multi-cusp ion source | US6294862 | Sep 25, 2001 | An implanter ion source where the plasma electrode has magnets that put a magnetic field across its extraction openings, which holds the plasma in better and filters high-energy electrons out of the beam. |
| Method of implanting low doses of ions into a substrate | US5962858 | Oct 5, 1999 | Uses an inert noble gas such as helium as the diluent for dopant gas in an ion implanter so it won't react or add impurities, giving stable, accurate low-dose implants. |