| Patent application number | Description | Published |
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| 20090072078 | High Altitude Airship Configuration And Power Technology And Method For Operation Of Same - A new High Altitude Airship (HAA) capable of various extended applications and mission scenarios utilizing inventive onboard energy harvesting and power distribution systems. The power technology comprises an advanced thermoelectric (ATE) thermal energy conversion system. The high efficiency of multiple stages of ATE materials in a tandem mode, each suited for best performance within a particular temperature range, permits the ATE system to generate a high quantity of harvested energy for the extended mission scenarios. When the figure of merit 5 is considered, the cascaded efficiency of the three-stage ATE system approaches an efficiency greater than 60 percent. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20090103680 | Method Of Generating X-Ray Diffraction Data For Integral Detection Of Twin Defects In Super-Hetero-Epitaxial Materials - A method provides X-ray diffraction data suitable for integral detection of a twin defect in a strained or lattice-matched epitaxial material made from components having crystal structures having symmetry belonging to different space groups. The material is mounted in an X-ray diffraction (XRD) system. In one embodiment, the XRD system's goniometer angle Ω is set equal to (θ | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090140296 | Epitaxial Growth of Cubic Crystalline Semiconductor Alloys on Basal Plane of Trigonal or Hexagonal Crystal - Hetero-epitaxial semiconductor materials comprising cubic crystalline semiconductor alloys grown on the basal plane of trigonal and hexagonal substrates, in which misfit dislocations are reduced by approximate lattice matching of the cubic crystal structure to underlying trigonal or hexagonal substrate structure, enabling the development of alloyed semiconductor layers of greater thickness, resulting in a new class of semiconductor materials and corresponding devices, including improved hetero-bipolar and high-electron mobility transistors, and high-mobility thermoelectric devices. | 06-04-2009 |
| 20090165837 | Thermoelectric Materials and Devices - New thermoelectric materials comprise highly [111]-oriented twinned group IV alloys on the basal plane of trigonal substrates, which exhibit a high thermoelectric figure of merit and good material performance, and devices made with these materials. | 07-02-2009 |
| 20090185942 | Fabrication of advanced thermoelectric materials by hierarchical nanovoid generation - A novel method to prepare an advanced thermoelectric material has hierarchical structures embedded with nanometer-sized voids which are key to enhancement of the thermoelectric performance. Solution-based thin film deposition technique enables preparation of stable film of thermoelectric material and void generator (voigen). A subsequent thermal process creates hierarchical nanovoid structure inside the thermoelectric material. Potential application areas of this advanced thermoelectric material with nanovoid structure are commercial applications (electronics cooling), medical and scientific applications (biological analysis device, medical imaging systems), telecommunications, and defense and military applications (night vision equipments). | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090206368 | Rhombohedral cubic semiconductor materials on trigonal substrate with single crystal properties and devices based on such materials - Growth conditions are developed, based on a temperature-dependent alignment model, to enable formation of cubic group IV, group II-V and group II-VI crystals in the [111] orientation on the basal (0001) plane of trigonal crystal substrates, controlled such that the volume percentage of primary twin crystal is reduced from about 40% to about 0.3%, compared to the majority single crystal. The control of stacking faults in this and other embodiments can yield single crystalline semiconductors based on these materials that are substantially without defects, or improved thermoelectric materials with twinned crystals for phonon scattering while maintaining electrical integrity. These methods can selectively yield a cubic-on-trigonal epitaxial semiconductor material in which the cubic layer is substantially either directly aligned, or 60 degrees-rotated from, the underlying trigonal material. | 08-20-2009 |
| 20090220047 | Hybrid Bandgap Engineering For Super-Hetero-Epitaxial Semiconductor Materials, and Products Thereof - “Super-hetero-epitaxial” combinations comprise epitaxial growth of one material on a different material with different crystal structure. Compatible crystal structures may be identified using a “Tri-Unity” system. New bandgap engineering diagrams are provided for each class of combination, based on determination of hybrid lattice constants for the constituent materials in accordance with lattice-matching equations. Using known bandgap figures for previously tested materials, new materials with lattice constants that match desired substrates and have the desired bandgap properties may be formulated by reference to the diagrams and lattice matching equations. In one embodiment, this analysis makes it possible to formulate new super-hetero-epitaxial semiconductor systems, such as systems based on group IV alloys on c-plane LaF | 09-03-2009 |
| 20090231677 | Variable Focal Point Optical Assembly Using Zone Plate and Electro-Optic Material - An optical assembly includes a zone plate and electro-optic material disposed on one side of the zone plate. The electro-optic material's index of refraction is controlled to adjust the optical properties of the optical assembly. | 09-17-2009 |
| 20090303598 | Dynamic Optical Grating Device and Associated Method for Modulating Light - A dynamic optical grating device and associated method for modulating light is provided that is capable of controlling the spectral properties and propagation of light without moving mechanical components by the use of a dynamic electric and/or magnetic field. By changing the electric field and/or magnetic field, the index of refraction, the extinction coefficient, the transmittivity, and the reflectivity of the optical grating device may be controlled in order to control the spectral properties of the light reflected or transmitted by the device. | 12-10-2009 |
| 20100027746 | X-ray diffraction wafer mapping method for rhombohedral super-hetero-epitaxy - A new X-ray diffraction (XRD) method is provided to acquire XY mapping of the distribution of single crystals, poly-crystals, and twin defects across an entire wafer of rhombohedral super-hetero-epitaxial semiconductor material. In one embodiment, the method is performed with a point or line X-ray source with an X-ray incidence angle approximating a normal angle close to 90°, and in which the beam mask is preferably replaced with a crossed slit. While the wafer moves in the X and Y direction, a narrowly defined X-ray source illuminates the sample and the diffracted X-ray beam is monitored by the detector at a predefined angle. Preferably, the untilted, asymmetric scans are of {440} peaks, for twin defect characterization. | 02-04-2010 |
| 20100197508 | Integrated Universal Chemical Detector with Selective Diffraction Array - Integrated universal chemical detector in a micro-optical chip in which chemical/bio-sensitive micro/nano-pixels are aligned to create diffraction patterns that can be visually or instrumentally categorized in order to identify a substantial plurality of agents. By using a diffraction method to create a macroscopic diffraction image, a single small array can effectively detect hundreds or even thousands of different chemicals. The apparatus can be further automated by analyzing the diffraction patterns electronically. | 08-05-2010 |
| 20110117690 | Fabrication of Nanovoid-Imbedded Bismuth Telluride with low dimensional system - A new fabrication method for nanovoids-imbedded bismuth telluride (Bi—Te) material with low dimensional (quantum-dots, quantum-wires, or quantum-wells) structure was conceived during the development of advanced thermoelectric (TE) materials. Bismuth telluride is currently the best-known candidate material for solid-state TE cooling devices because it possesses the highest TE figure of merit at room temperature. The innovative process described here allows nanometer-scale voids to be incorporated in Bi—Te material. The final nanovoid structure such as void size, size distribution, void location, etc. can be also controlled under various process conditions. | 05-19-2011 |
