Mashed Articles

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7419764.html

In order to achieve sub-100 nm processing in coming years one alternative is nanoimprint lithography. Nanoimprint lithography uses a mold to transfer a pattern onto an opposing substrate. This patent from S. Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute teaches a method for forming a nanoimprint mold using photolithography to form the larger (>100nm) features and E-beam lithography to form the nanoscopic (<100nm) surface features. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of fabricating a nanoimprint lithography (NHL) mold comprising:

forming patterns on a first substrate using an E-beam lithography (EBL) process and a photo-lithography process; and

transferring the patterns formed on the first substrate to a second substrate using a nanoimprint lithography process to complete an NIL mold.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7419887.html

This patent teaches a new type of nanofabrication process involving the focusing of a laser beam width to nanometer dimensions and using the laser to fuse nanoparticles deposited via a nanosize pore. Claim 1 reads:

1. The process of forming a nano structure on a substrate, comprising:

suspending nano particles in a suspension fluid;

applying a pressure to the suspension fluid for forcing the nano particles through a nano size pore onto the substrate;

directing a micrometer size laser beam through a concentrator for forming a nanometer size laser beam; and

directing the nano size laser beam onto the deposited nano particles on the substrate.

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7420106.html

This patent from the University of Utah includes some broad claims covering he characterization of a dielectric surface via tunneling. Claim 1 reads:

1. A method of characterizing a dielectric surface by detecting tunneling events, the method comprising acts of:

applying a first voltage at a given location on the dielectric surface, the voltage being of a sufficient strength, and applied within a distance from the dielectric surface where tunneling events are likely to occur; and

detecting a tunneling event occurring as a result of applying the first voltage at the given location on the dielectric surface.

However, several examples of prior art seem to have been overlooked such as US Patent 4,575,822 teaching a voltage biased scanning tunneling tip (20) used for data detection via characterization of a dielectric layer (14).