Explore the 7,229 U.S. Patent Applications published on the 47th week of 2016, including 5,398 applications that subsequently received a Patent Grant.
Technique to deposit sidewall passivation for high aspect ratio cylinder etch
Various embodiments herein relate to methods, apparatus and systems for forming a recessed feature in dielectric material on a semiconductor substrate. Separate etching and deposition operations are employed in a cyclic manner. Each etching operation partially etches the feature. Each deposition operation forms a protective coating on the sidewalls of the feature to prevent lateral etch of the dielectric material during the etching operations. The protective coating may be deposited using methods that result in formation of the protective coating along substantially the entire length of the sidewalls. The protective coating may be deposited using particular reactants having low sticking coefficients in some embodiments. The protective coating may also be deposited using particular reaction mechanisms that result in substantially complete sidewall coating. In some cases the protective coating is deposited using plasma assisted atomic layer deposition or plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition.
Published: 2016-11-24 Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC.
Reactive avatars
Avatars are used to graphically represent users in a communications session, and the avatars are capable of being animated. An indication of an animation of one of the avatars is received. Another avatar that represents another of the users is animated in response to, and based on, the animation of the avatar in the same communications session.
Published: 2016-11-24 Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc..
Adaptable integrated energy control system for electrosurgical tools in robotic surgical systems
A teleoperated surgical system may comprise a plurality of teleoperated surgical instruments; a user input device; and a controller operably coupled to the user input device and to the plurality of surgical instruments. The user input device may be configured to transmit an activation command to cause activation of a function of a first one of the plurality of surgical instruments in response to input at the user input device, the function being supported by remote-control supply equipment. The controller may be configured to output a feedback command to cause feedback to a user, the feedback indicating the first one of the plurality of surgical instruments is configured for activation in response to the activation command.
Published: 2016-11-24 Assignee: Covidien LP.
Surgical fastener applying apparatus
The present disclosure relates to surgical fastener applying apparatus for sequentially applying a plurality of surgical fasteners to body tissue. The surgical fastener applying apparatus includes a replaceable cartridge assembly receivable in a distal end portion of a cartridge receiving half-section, the cartridge assembly including a safety lockout pivotably disposed along the upper surface of the cartridge assembly and movable from an unlocked orientation permitting assembly of an anvil half-section to the cartridge receiving half-section, to a locked orientation preventing assembly of the anvil half-section to the cartridge receiving-half section.
Published: 2016-11-24
DEVICE, METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR VIRTUAL ASSET TRANSACTIONS
A method and system for digital currency transactions and, more specifically, a method and system for cryptocurrency transactions across ledgers or blockchains.
Published: 2016-11-24 Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc..
Azimuthally tunable multi-zone electrostatic chuck
Implementations described herein provide a method for processing a substrate on a substrate support assembly which enables both lateral and azimuthal tuning of the heat transfer between an electrostatic chuck and a substrate. The method includes processing a first substrate using a first temperature profile on the ESC having primary heaters and spatially tunable heaters. A deviation profile is determined from a result of processing the first substrate from a target result profile. The first temperature profile is adjusted to a second temperature profile on the ESC based on the deviation profile. Adjusting to the second temperature profile includes incrementing the power to one or more spatially tunable heaters in one or more discrete locations corresponding to the deviations profile. A second substrate is then processed on the ESC using the second temperature profile.
Published: 2016-11-24 Assignee: LAM RESEARCH CORPORATION.
Feature fill with multi-stage nucleation inhibition
Described herein are methods of filling features with tungsten, and related systems and apparatus, involving inhibition of tungsten nucleation. In some embodiments, the methods involve selective inhibition along a feature profile. Methods of selectively inhibiting tungsten nucleation can include exposing the feature to a direct or remote plasma. The methods include performing multi-stage inhibition treatments including intervals between stages. One or more of plasma source power, substrate bias power, or treatment gas flow may be reduced or turned off during an interval. The methods described herein can be used to fill vertical features, such as in tungsten vias, and horizontal features, such as vertical NAND (VNAND) wordlines. The methods may be used for both conformal fill and bottom-up/inside-out fill. Examples of applications include logic and memory contact fill, DRAM buried wordline fill, vertically integrated memory gate and wordline fill, and 3-D integration using through-silicon vias.
Published: 2016-11-24 Assignee: SALESFORCE.COM, INC..
Secure storage and access to sensitive data
A method and system for securely storing and accessing sensitive user data (e.g., personally identifying information or PII) is described. In an aspect, PII is divided into a plurality of separately stored data stores based on what type or field of PII are collected. Each piece of PII data or PII datum is associated with a unique code so as to form data pairs comprising the PII datum and the unique code associated with that PII datum. A tumbler data structure allows secure association of the unique codes for the PII data for each user. Once the tumbler data structure is unlocked, a provider can search and access the PII data of its users.
Published: 2016-11-24 Assignee: Stimwave Technologies Incorporated.
Remote RF power system with low profile transmitting antenna
An antenna assembly includes: an antenna including: a metal signal layer having a radiating surface; and a feed port; and a waveguide surrounding the antenna and configured to guide electromagnetic energy transmitted from the radiating surface in a direction away from the antenna; and a controller module connected to the feed port and configured to drive the antenna to transmit electromagnetic energy from the radiating surface; wherein the antenna, waveguide, and controller module are configured such that, when the controller module drives the antenna, the transmitted electromagnetic energy matches a reception characteristic of an implantable device and is sufficient for the implantable device to create one or more electrical pulses of sufficient amplitude to stimulate neural tissue of a patient, solely using electromagnetic energy received from the antenna, when the implantable device is located at least 10 centimeters away from the antenna.
Published: 2016-11-24 Assignee: MasterCard International Incorporated.
METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING BLOCKCHAIN-BASED TRANSACTIONS ON EXISTING PAYMENT NETWORKS
A method for authorizing a blockchain-based transaction includes: receiving a transaction request, the request including a network identifier associated with a blockchain network, a transaction amount, and one of: a public key and an address identifier; generating an address identifier using at least the public key included in the received transaction request and one or more hashing algorithms if the received transaction request does not include an address identifier; generating a transaction message, the message including a first data element configured to store a transaction amount and a second data element reserved for private use, and the first data element includes a zero value and the second data element includes at least (i) the network identifier or an encoded value based on the network identifier, (ii) the address identifier, and (iii) the transaction amount; and transmitting the transaction message to a financial institution using a payment network.