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Stent configurations
SMB AUG
8/12/02
11:40 AM
Page 14
PATENTS
Patents Nano-devices use block copolymers Applicant: IBM Corporation, USA The shrinking dimensions of active devices on silicon chips is approaching their limit due to restrictions set by photolithographic techniques. For example, wave properties of radiation, such as interference and diffraction, can limit device size and density. Considerable research has taken place to overcome the limitations of photolithographic techniques. The research has been directed at correcting this by phase shift lithography as well as other approaches. Concomitantly, with this research, there have been developments in device design, using electron confinement in small volume. The three basic categories for such device designs are quantum dots, resonant tunnelling devices and single electron transistors. This invention relates to the field of semiconductor chips, in particular to semiconductor chips that include active device having extremely small feature sizes, and to methods for forming semiconductor chips including active features having such sizes. The invention is for a structure including a substrate. A first electrode and a second electrode are arranged, spaced apart from each other on the substrate. A polymer string is positioned on the substrate between the two electrodes, where the polymer line has a width of less than about 50 nm. Patent number: US 6403321 Publication date: 11 June 2002 Inventors: Ravi F. Saraf, Hemantha K. Wickramasinghe
Packaged strain actuator Applicant: Active Control eXperts Inc, USA A modular actuator assembly includes one or more plates or elements of electro-active material bonded to an electroded sheet, preferably by a structural polymer to form a card. The card is sealed, and may itself constitute a practical device, such as a vane, shaker, stirrer, lever, pusher or sonicator for direct contact with a solid or immersion in a fluid, or may be bonded by a stiff adhesive to make a surface-tosurface mechanical coupling with a solid workpiece, device, substrate machine or sample. The structural polymer provides a bending stiffness such that the thin plate does not deform to its breaking point, and a mechanical stiffness such that shear forces are efficiently coupled from the plate to the workpiece. In further embodiments, the card may include active
14
Smart Materials Bulletin
circuit elements for switching, powering or processing signals, and/or passive circuit elements for filtering, matching or damping signals, so that few or no connections to outside circuitry are required. The actuator assembly can be manufactured in quantity, to provide a versatile actuator with uniform mechanical and actuation characteristics, that introduces negligible mass loading to the workpiece. The cards themselves may be independent mechanical actuators, rather than strain-transfer actuators, in which the induced strain changes the position of the card. Various arrangements may act as a pusher, bender or other motive actuator, and structures such as powered bellows may be formed directly by folding one or more suitably patterned cards. Patent number: US 6404107 Publication date: 11 June 2002 Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Mark E. Lundstrom, Jeffrey W. Moore, Edward Crawley, Farla Russo, Shoko Yoshikawa
displacement can require the use of additional operational space in a compact design. There is therefore a need to provide a cost-effective and reliable vibrating unit which can be used with compact designs. In this invention, a miniaturised piezo-ceramic member is positioned in a radiotelephone or wireless communication device to relatively rapidly deflect in a first and a second direction. The piezo-ceramic member contacts and forces a component of the radiotelephone or device having a sufficient mass to translate in the first and second direction in response to the deflection or movement of the piezo-ceramic member, thereby generating a vibrating or shaking motion for the radiotelephone or device which is detectable by a user. In a preferred embodiment the component is a battery having a mass which is at least about 10% the mass of the device or radio telelphone. Patent number: US 6389302 Publication date: 14 May 2002 Inventor: Scott L. Vance
Wireless communication devices vibrate via piezo-ceramic vibrators
Stent configurations
Applicant: Ericsson Inc, USA Wireless devices such as cellular telephones or radiotelephones are small, compact and portable. Some of these radiotelephones are described as ‘pocket’ telephones because they are small enough to fit in the pocket of a user. Unfortunately, as the size of the radiotelephones continues to shrink, the efficient use of space, the numbers and size of components, and the weight of the components can become important design considerations. Some radiotelephones can operate in a vibrating mode to act as a substantially silent alarm or pager to alert the user. The radiophone has conventionally provided this vibrator mode by, for example, using a motor to turn an eccentric weight positioned in the phone, while others have used a vibration motor which employs centrifugal force to generate vibration. Generally, vibration motors rotate to provide an off-balance distribution of weight and, therefore, a vibrating or even ‘buzzing’ output. Unfortunately, these vibrator configurations can be relatively costly due to the number of windings in the motor. In addition, the amount of vibration output by the device was typically limited to adjustments to the input frequency, vibrator mass or displacement of the mass. Increasing the frequency can cause the vibrating sensation to undesirably produce a sound. Increasing the vibrator mass can add weight, making it more difficult for the motor to drive, decreasing the life of the motor, or increase the size of the motor needed. Increasing the
Applicant: Scimed Life Systems Inc, USA Stents are radially expandable endoprostheses which are typically intravascular implants capable of being implanted transluminally, and enlarged radially after being introduced percutaneously. They have also been implanted in urinary tracts and bile ducts, and are used to reinforce body vessels and to prevent restenosis following angioplasty in the vascular system. They may be self-expanding or expanded by an internal radial force, as when mounted on a balloon. Formerly stents have been tubular, but have been composed of many configurations and many materials, including metals and plastic. Ordinary metals such as stainless steel have been used, as have shape memory metals such as Nitinol and the like. Stents have also been made of biodegradable plastic materials. This invention provides new configurations of the cells making up stents which may be adapted to all of the various types of prior art stents described or known previously. The configurations of the invention limit recoil and add resistance to compression for an expanded stent. Other configurations than cylindrical are contemplated, e.g. square, triangular or octagonal, with improved configurations exhibiting limited recoil, resistance to compression and improved longitudinal flexibility. Patent number: US 6416538 Publication date: 9 July 2002 Inventors: Timothy J. Ley, Graig L. Kveen, Timothy G.J. Ehr, Brian J. Brown. David L. Friesen
August 2002
8/12/02
11:40 AM
Page 14
PATENTS
Patents Nano-devices use block copolymers Applicant: IBM Corporation, USA The shrinking dimensions of active devices on silicon chips is approaching their limit due to restrictions set by photolithographic techniques. For example, wave properties of radiation, such as interference and diffraction, can limit device size and density. Considerable research has taken place to overcome the limitations of photolithographic techniques. The research has been directed at correcting this by phase shift lithography as well as other approaches. Concomitantly, with this research, there have been developments in device design, using electron confinement in small volume. The three basic categories for such device designs are quantum dots, resonant tunnelling devices and single electron transistors. This invention relates to the field of semiconductor chips, in particular to semiconductor chips that include active device having extremely small feature sizes, and to methods for forming semiconductor chips including active features having such sizes. The invention is for a structure including a substrate. A first electrode and a second electrode are arranged, spaced apart from each other on the substrate. A polymer string is positioned on the substrate between the two electrodes, where the polymer line has a width of less than about 50 nm. Patent number: US 6403321 Publication date: 11 June 2002 Inventors: Ravi F. Saraf, Hemantha K. Wickramasinghe
Packaged strain actuator Applicant: Active Control eXperts Inc, USA A modular actuator assembly includes one or more plates or elements of electro-active material bonded to an electroded sheet, preferably by a structural polymer to form a card. The card is sealed, and may itself constitute a practical device, such as a vane, shaker, stirrer, lever, pusher or sonicator for direct contact with a solid or immersion in a fluid, or may be bonded by a stiff adhesive to make a surface-tosurface mechanical coupling with a solid workpiece, device, substrate machine or sample. The structural polymer provides a bending stiffness such that the thin plate does not deform to its breaking point, and a mechanical stiffness such that shear forces are efficiently coupled from the plate to the workpiece. In further embodiments, the card may include active
14
Smart Materials Bulletin
circuit elements for switching, powering or processing signals, and/or passive circuit elements for filtering, matching or damping signals, so that few or no connections to outside circuitry are required. The actuator assembly can be manufactured in quantity, to provide a versatile actuator with uniform mechanical and actuation characteristics, that introduces negligible mass loading to the workpiece. The cards themselves may be independent mechanical actuators, rather than strain-transfer actuators, in which the induced strain changes the position of the card. Various arrangements may act as a pusher, bender or other motive actuator, and structures such as powered bellows may be formed directly by folding one or more suitably patterned cards. Patent number: US 6404107 Publication date: 11 June 2002 Inventors: Kenneth B. Lazarus, Mark E. Lundstrom, Jeffrey W. Moore, Edward Crawley, Farla Russo, Shoko Yoshikawa
displacement can require the use of additional operational space in a compact design. There is therefore a need to provide a cost-effective and reliable vibrating unit which can be used with compact designs. In this invention, a miniaturised piezo-ceramic member is positioned in a radiotelephone or wireless communication device to relatively rapidly deflect in a first and a second direction. The piezo-ceramic member contacts and forces a component of the radiotelephone or device having a sufficient mass to translate in the first and second direction in response to the deflection or movement of the piezo-ceramic member, thereby generating a vibrating or shaking motion for the radiotelephone or device which is detectable by a user. In a preferred embodiment the component is a battery having a mass which is at least about 10% the mass of the device or radio telelphone. Patent number: US 6389302 Publication date: 14 May 2002 Inventor: Scott L. Vance
Wireless communication devices vibrate via piezo-ceramic vibrators
Stent configurations
Applicant: Ericsson Inc, USA Wireless devices such as cellular telephones or radiotelephones are small, compact and portable. Some of these radiotelephones are described as ‘pocket’ telephones because they are small enough to fit in the pocket of a user. Unfortunately, as the size of the radiotelephones continues to shrink, the efficient use of space, the numbers and size of components, and the weight of the components can become important design considerations. Some radiotelephones can operate in a vibrating mode to act as a substantially silent alarm or pager to alert the user. The radiophone has conventionally provided this vibrator mode by, for example, using a motor to turn an eccentric weight positioned in the phone, while others have used a vibration motor which employs centrifugal force to generate vibration. Generally, vibration motors rotate to provide an off-balance distribution of weight and, therefore, a vibrating or even ‘buzzing’ output. Unfortunately, these vibrator configurations can be relatively costly due to the number of windings in the motor. In addition, the amount of vibration output by the device was typically limited to adjustments to the input frequency, vibrator mass or displacement of the mass. Increasing the frequency can cause the vibrating sensation to undesirably produce a sound. Increasing the vibrator mass can add weight, making it more difficult for the motor to drive, decreasing the life of the motor, or increase the size of the motor needed. Increasing the
Applicant: Scimed Life Systems Inc, USA Stents are radially expandable endoprostheses which are typically intravascular implants capable of being implanted transluminally, and enlarged radially after being introduced percutaneously. They have also been implanted in urinary tracts and bile ducts, and are used to reinforce body vessels and to prevent restenosis following angioplasty in the vascular system. They may be self-expanding or expanded by an internal radial force, as when mounted on a balloon. Formerly stents have been tubular, but have been composed of many configurations and many materials, including metals and plastic. Ordinary metals such as stainless steel have been used, as have shape memory metals such as Nitinol and the like. Stents have also been made of biodegradable plastic materials. This invention provides new configurations of the cells making up stents which may be adapted to all of the various types of prior art stents described or known previously. The configurations of the invention limit recoil and add resistance to compression for an expanded stent. Other configurations than cylindrical are contemplated, e.g. square, triangular or octagonal, with improved configurations exhibiting limited recoil, resistance to compression and improved longitudinal flexibility. Patent number: US 6416538 Publication date: 9 July 2002 Inventors: Timothy J. Ley, Graig L. Kveen, Timothy G.J. Ehr, Brian J. Brown. David L. Friesen
August 2002