Advanced Surface Microscopy, Inc. (of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA) owns US Patents # 5,825,670 and 5,644,512 for inventions incorporated in its DiscTrack Plus™and Calibrator Pro™ measurement systems.
These products benefit the compact disc, magnetic storage, integrated circuit and optics industries. Products such as DVDs (digital video discs), optical gratings and multilayer dielectric structures require tight control over the fabrication of microscopic features. The spacing of these features can now be measured with extraordinary accuracy, by using a Scanning Probe Microscope equipped with ASM’s measurement systems.
Patent 5,825,670, “High precision calibration and feature measurement system for a scanning probe microscope”, was issued on October 20, 1998 to Dr. Donald Chernoff and Jason Lohr. It is assigned to Advanced Surface Microscopy, Inc. A related US Patent, #5,644,512, was issued on July 1, 1997 to the same inventors and assignee.
These patents cover very broad subject matter and could have been entitled “Everything you need to know about calibrating microscopes, from X to Z”. In addition to measurement techniques used in the above-mentioned products, these patents describe additional measurement techniques and improved methods for operating microscopes, in both closed-loop and open-loop scanning configurations. We have issued licenses to leading companies and welcome further inquiries.
Advanced Surface Microscopy is an analytical testing and research laboratory specializing in Scanning Probe Microscopy. Scanning Probe Microscopes make three-dimensional images of surfaces.