US Patent No: 6,274,294

Number of patents in Portfolio can not be more than 2000

Cylindrical photolithography exposure process and apparatus

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Abstract

The present invention is directed to a novel apparatus for exposing a pattern onto a photoresist-coated substrate cylinder and the process of using the apparatus. The cylindrical photolithography apparatus of the present invention comprises two adjacent cylindrical support rollers between which a portion of a flexible photomask extends in the form of a loop. The photoresist-coated substrate cylinder is received in the loop and a tension device, such as a weight, is engaged with the photomask to pull the photomask into contact with the photoresist-coated substrate cylinder over a substantial portion of the circumference of the substrate cylinder. A drive mechanism pulls the photomask over the surface of the photoresist-coated substrate cylinder thereby causing the substrate cylinder to rotate. Exposure light is provided during movement of the photomask to expose a pattern contained on the photomask onto the photoresist. In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, designed for small substrate cylinders and/or substrate cylinders coated with a thick resist, a cylindrical lens is supported above the support cylinders and the photoresist-coated substrate cylinder to focus the light from the light device in a radial direction to increase resolution of the pattern. In applications requiring even higher resolution, a panel defining an aperture slit is placed between the light device and cylindrical lens to further focus the light rays.

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First Claim

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Patent Owner(s)

Patent OwnerAddressTotal Patents
ELECTROFORMED STENTS, INC.STILWELL, KS3

International Classification(s)

  • [Classification Symbol]
  • [Patents Count]

Inventor(s)

Inventor Name Address # of filed Patents Total Citations
Hines, Richard A Stilwell, KS 10 248

Cited Art

Patent Info (Count) # Cites Year
 
ADVANCED CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEMS, INC. (3)
5,421,955 Expandable stents and method for making same 562 1994
5,443,500 Intravascular stent 405 1994
5,649,952 Expandable stents and method for making same 185 1996
 
CORDIS CORPORATION (2)
5,102,417 Expandable intraluminal graft, and method and apparatus for implanting an expandable intraluminal graft 716 1988
5,195,984 Expandable intraluminal graft 568 1991
 
BODNAR, ENDRE (1)
4,343,048 Stent for a cardiac valve 171 1980
 
BOSTON SCIENTIFIC SCIMED, INC. (1)
5,366,504 Tubular medical prosthesis 387 1992
 
COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE (1)
4,434,547 Process for the manufacture and adjustment of a Josephson effect magnetic flux pick-up 2 1981
 
COOK MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIES LLC (1)
5,443,498 Vascular stent and method of making and implanting a vacsular stent 406 1993
 
EXPANDABLE GRAFTS PARTNERSHIP, 8000 I.H. 10 WEST, STE. 1265, SAN ANTONIO, TX A GENERAL PARTNERSHIP OF TX. (1)
4,733,665 Expandable intraluminal graft, and method and apparatus for implanting an expandable intraluminal graft 1941 1985
 
EXPANDABLE GRAFTS PARTNERSHIP, A TX. GENERAL PARTNERSHIP (1)
4,776,337 Expandable intraluminal graft, and method and apparatus for implanting an expandable intraluminal graft 1050 1986
 
INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH B.V. (1)
5,464,419 Expandable hollow sleeve for the local support and/or reinforcement of a body vessel, and method for the fabrication thereof 51 1994
 
MEDINOL LTD. (1)
5,449,373 Articulated stent 625 1994
 
ROITBERG, BEN Z. (1)
6,019,784 Process for making electroformed stents 58 1997
 
SULZER INTRA THERAPEUTICS, INC. (1)
5,741,429 Flexible tubular device for use in medical applications 131 1995
 
WORLD PROPERTIES, INC. (1)
4,944,087 Method of making a curved plastic body with circuit pattern 20 1988
 
OTHER [CHECK PATENT PROFILE FOR ASSIGNMENT INFORMATION] (1)
4,509,426 Autoreversing dual axial speed ink roller 14 1984

Patent Citation Ranking

Forward Cites

Patent Info (Count) # Cites Year
 
CANON INC. (42)
7,037,639 Methods of manufacturing a lithography template 20 2002
6,926,929 System and method for dispensing liquids 19 2002
7,077,992 Step and repeat imprint lithography processes 75 2002
6,932,934 Formation of discontinuous films during an imprint lithography process 85 2002
6,908,861 Method for imprint lithography using an electric field 79 2002
6,900,881 Step and repeat imprint lithography systems 80 2002
7,070,405 Alignment systems for imprint lithography 44 2002
7,027,156 Scatterometry alignment for imprint lithography 30 2002
6,916,584 Alignment methods for imprint lithography 70 2002
7,071,088 Method for fabricating bulbous-shaped vias 25 2002
7,019,819 Chucking system for modulating shapes of substrates 20 2002
6,929,762 Method of reducing pattern distortions during imprint lithography processes 22 2002
6,980,282 Method for modulating shapes of substrates 23 2002
6,871,558 Method for determining characteristics of substrate employing fluid geometries 24 2002
7,452,574 Method to reduce adhesion between a polymerizable layer and a substrate employing a fluorine-containing layer 1 2003
7,179,396 Positive tone bi-layer imprint lithography method 16 2003
7,396,475 Method of forming stepped structures employing imprint lithography 19 2003
6,951,173 Assembly and method for transferring imprint lithography templates 29 2003
7,179,079 Conforming template for patterning liquids disposed on substrates 15 2003
7,442,336 Capillary imprinting technique 3 2003
7,136,150 Imprint lithography template having opaque alignment marks 62 2003
7,122,079 Composition for an etching mask comprising a silicon-containing material 7 2004
7,785,526 Imprint alignment method, system, and template 0 2004
7,939,131 Method to provide a layer with uniform etch characteristics 0 2004
7,547,504 Pattern reversal employing thick residual layers 0 2004
7,636,999 Method of retaining a substrate to a wafer chuck 6 2005
7,811,505 Method for fast filling of templates for imprint lithography using on template dispense 0 2005
7,727,453 Step and repeat imprint lithography processes 3 2005
7,338,275 Formation of discontinuous films during an imprint lithography process 22 2005
7,665,981 System to transfer a template transfer body between a motion stage and a docking plate 0 2005
7,670,534 Method to control an atmosphere between a body and a substrate 1 2005
7,803,308 Technique for separating a mold from solidified imprinting material 1 2005
7,906,058 Bifurcated contact printing technique 1 2005
7,906,180 Composition for an etching mask comprising a silicon-containing material 0 2006
7,670,529 Method and system for double-sided patterning of substrates 6 2006
7,670,530 Patterning substrates employing multiple chucks 1 2007
7,699,598 Conforming template for patterning liquids disposed on substrates 1 2007
7,635,263 Chucking system comprising an array of fluid chambers 4 2007
7,547,398 Self-aligned process for fabricating imprint templates containing variously etched features 1 2007
7,802,978 Imprinting of partial fields at the edge of the wafer 0 2007
7,780,893 Method of concurrently patterning a substrate having a plurality of fields and a plurality of alignment marks 2 2007
7,854,867 Method for detecting a particle in a nanoimprint lithography system 0 2007
 
BOARD OF REGENTS, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SYSTEM (19)
6,873,087 High precision orientation alignment and gap control stages for imprint lithography processes 49 2000
6,964,793 Method for fabricating nanoscale patterns in light curable compositions using an electric field 41 2001
6,921,615 High-resolution overlay alignment methods for imprint lithography 62 2001
6,954,275 Methods for high-precision gap and orientation sensing between a transparent template and substrate for imprint lithography 33 2001
8,016,277 Flexure based macro motion translation stage 0 2001
6,919,152 High resolution overlay alignment systems for imprint lithography 18 2003
6,916,585 Method of varying template dimensions to achieve alignment during imprint lithography 47 2003
7,157,036 Method to reduce adhesion between a conformable region and a pattern of a mold 20 2003
7,090,716 Single phase fluid imprint lithography method 20 2003
6,842,229 Imprint lithography template comprising alignment marks 45 2003
7,060,324 Method of creating a dispersion of a liquid on a substrate 10 2004
8,076,386 Materials for imprint lithography 1 2004
6,955,868 Method to control the relative position between a body and a surface 7 2004
7,060,402 Method of orientating a template with respect to a substrate in response to a force exerted on the template 16 2004
7,098,572 Apparatus to control displacement of a body spaced-apart from a surface 11 2004
6,986,975 Method of aligning a template with a substrate employing moire patterns 22 2004
6,902,853 Dual wavelength method of determining a relative position of a substrate and a template 21 2004
7,432,634 Remote center compliant flexure device 1 2005
8,211,214 Single phase fluid imprint lithography method 0 2008
 
MOLECULAR IMPRINTS, INC. (5)
8,349,241 Method to arrange features on a substrate to replicate features having minimal dimensional variability 0 2002
7,981,481 Method for controlling distribution of fluid components on a body 0 2006
8,142,850 Patterning a plurality of fields on a substrate to compensate for differing evaporation times 0 2007
8,012,395 Template having alignment marks formed of contrast material 0 2009
8,366,434 Imprint alignment method, system and template 0 2010
 
BIOSENSORS INTERNATIONAL GROUP, LTD. (2)
7,901,451 Drug-delivery endovascular stent and method for treating restenosis 0 2005
8,252,047 Drug-delivery endovascular stent and method for treating restenosis 0 2011
 
BOSTON SCIENTIFIC SCIMED, INC. (2)
8,221,824 Deforming surface of drug eluting coating to alter drug release profile of a medical device 0 2005
7,935,379 Coated and imprinted medical devices and methods of making the same 1 2005
 
ROLITH, INC. (2)
8,192,920 Lithography method 0 2009
8,425,789 Method and apparatus for anisotropic etching 0 2009
 
C-FLEX BEARING CO., INC. (1)
7,824,270 Flexible coupling 0 2007
 
ELECTROFORMED STENTS, INC. (1)
6,904,658 Process for forming a porous drug delivery layer 50 2003
 
RABBIT TANAKA CORPORATION LIMITED (1)
6,844,948 Integral hologram revolving lamp and method for making same 2 2002
 
THINPRINT GMBH (1)
7,613,798 Method for processing printing orders in server-based networks, and corresponding server-based network 1 2002

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