Intellectual Property Law

US Patent 7803574 - Medical device applications of nanostructured surfaces

Posted on September 29, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7803574This latest patent from Nanosys teaches a way to enhance the resistance to bacterial growth of implantable medical devices using nanofibrous coatings. Claim 1 reads:1. A method of administering a composition to a patient, comprising: providing a composition-eluting device, said composition-eluting device comprising at least a first surface and a plurality of nanostructures attached to the first surface, wherein: the plurality of nanostructures comprise nanofibers and/or nanotubes; and introducing the composition-eluting device into the body of the patient.

US Patent 7803346 - Method of selecting CNT structure through photoirradiation

Posted on September 29, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7803346This is the latest patent from the researcher (Sumio Iijima) often credited with the discovery of carbon nanotubes and teaches a way to isolate CNTs of a single diameter. Claim 1 reads:1. A method for selecting single-walled carbon nanotubes of 1...

US Patent 7803262 - Alignment of nanotubes using magnetic nanoparticles

Posted on September 29, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7803262The alignment of carbon nanotubes is important to optimizing the strength as well as the electrical and thermal conductivity of nanotube composites. Several techniques have been developed to achieve this alignment based on the use of fluid flow and electrostatic fields...

US Patent 7800302 - Qdot lighting with silica matrix

Posted on September 27, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7800302This patent from Samsung suggests a simplified manufacturing method and stabilized structure for quantum dot lighting based on a silica matrix. Claim 1 reads:1. An electroluminescent element, the element comprising: a glass template, which includes a silica matrix and a plurality of pores, electrodes on opposing sides of the glass template, and a luminescent material in the plurality of pores, wherein the luminescent material comprises an inorganic phosphor and a quantum dot...

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US Patent 7800139 - Back gate nanowire thin film transistor

Posted on September 27, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7800139Langmuir-Blodgett films have been used to deposit nanowire semiconductor layers in the fabrication of thin film transistors but the nanowires tend to lack alignment using this method. This patent from LG Display teaches a way to overcome this problem using electrostatic fields from alignment electrodes...

US Patent 7799988 - Point contact nanowire solar cell

Posted on September 23, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7799988Most solar cells are based on planar semiconductor wafers which have a maximum theoretical efficiency due to the bandgap of the semiconductor material. This patent proposes an alternative solar cell construction based on the formation of metallic nanowires or nanotubes as rectifying antennas to convert the visible spectrum into a source of DC current and which may improve the theoretical maximum efficiency...

US Patent 7799849 - Self-healing nanomaterial

Posted on September 23, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7799849This patent from Intel is related to semiconductor packaging and teaches a material to heal cracks in the packaging using an encapsulated nanoparticle composite. Claim 1 reads:1. A method to fabricate a self-healing material comprising: mixing nanoscale material with a healing agent to form a healing mixture; encapsulating the healing mixture to form a plurality of self-healing capsules; and dispersing the self-healing capsules in a polymer to fabricate the self-healing material.

US Patent 7799726 - CNT composites

Posted on September 23, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7799726This patent has relatively early priority (2001) and includes some broad claims toward catalysts supports including a large weight fraction of carbon nanotubes or nanofibers. Claim 1 reads:1. A composite consisting essentially of: an impregnated support activated by impregnation of at least one metal and/or metal salt and carbon nanotubes or nanofibers formed by vapor deposition, wherein the weight of said carbon nanotubes or nanofibers formed on said support is at least 10% of the weight of said composite...

US Patent 7799425 - Metal composite nanoparticle

Posted on September 22, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7799425This patent from Ebara Corporation teaches a nanostructured bonding material as a substitute for solder in microelectronics. Claim 1 reads:1. A composite nanoparticle comprising: a core comprising an inorganic metal compound and a metal component; and a coating of an organic substance bonded to said core by physical adsorption.

US Patent 7799196 - Electromagnetic sorting and deposition of nanotubes

Posted on September 22, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7799196This patent from Micron Technology teaches a carbon nanotube deposition method which includes a step of filtering and aligning the nanotubes by size. Claim 1 reads:1. A method of depositing nanotubes onto a workpiece, comprising: contacting a surface of a semiconductor wafer with a deposition fluid containing a plurality of nanotubes; separating a first portion of the nanotubes from a second portion of the nanotubes with a filter located between the contacted surface of the semiconductor wafer and a counter-electrode; aligning the first portion of the nanotubes relative to the surface of the semiconductor wafer while the first portion of the nanotubes are separated from the second portion of the nanotubes; and establishing an energy field between the surface of the semiconductor wafer and the counter-electrode in the deposition fluid to deposit the separated and aligned first portion of the nanotubes onto the semiconductor wafer, wherein the energy field is at least one of an electric field and an electromagnetic field.

US Patent 7798922 - Athletic field markings with quantum dots

Posted on September 22, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7798922This patent teaches using quantum dots to form photoluminescent lines that distinguish football markings and soccer markings depending on exterior lighting. Claim 1 reads:1. A method for selectively marking a surface, the method comprising: marking the surface with lines of a first material containing quantum dots having a first absorption characteristic and a first emission characteristic; and selectively illuminating the surface with radiation consistent with the first absorption characteristic to cause the lines of the first material to display the first emission characteristic...

US Patent 7796123 - Touchscreen with CNT conductive layers

Posted on September 20, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7796123This patent from Kodak teaches a way to form roll-to-roll manufacturable touchscreen display electrodes based on single walled carbon nanotubes. Claim 1 reads:1. A touchscreen comprising touch side and device side electrodes wherein each electrode comprises in order an insulating substrate, an exposed electrically conductive layer, wherein said exposed electrically conductive layers are adjacent and separated by dielectric spacers, and wherein said exposed electrically conductive layers comprise single wall carbon nanotubes and wherein said carbon nanotubes comprise covalently attached hydrophilic species.

US Patent 7795725 - Carbon nanostructure mat for thermal cooling

Posted on September 20, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7795725There has been much academic and some industry interest in the use of carbon nanostructures to form channels for future transistors. However, more near term applications in electronics may depend on the thermal cooling advantages offered by carbon nanostructures to semiconductor packaging...

US Patent 7795694 - Quantum ring

Posted on September 20, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7795694Quantum wells, wires, and dots represent structures in which the wavefunctions of electrons are confined to 2, 1, or 0 dimensions. Most often nanocrystals are used to achieve quantum dots but this patent from Fujitsu teaches another way based on the fabrication of quantum rings which may facilitate the construction of quantum logic devices...

US Patent 7795677 - Nanowire SOI field effect transistor

Posted on September 17, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7795677This patent from IBM teaches the latest variation of nanowire FETs based on silicon-on-insulator technology. Claim 1 reads:1. A field-effect transistor (FET) comprising: a substrate having a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) layer which is divided into at least two sections electrically isolated from one another, one section forming a source region and the other section forming a drain region; a channel region comprising at least one nanowire that connects the source region and the drain region, wherein the nanowire is disposed over the SOI layer; an epitaxial semiconductor material, grown from the SOI layer, connecting the nanowire to each section of the SOI layer; and a gate over the channel region...

US Patent 7794699 - Nanostructured blood substitute

Posted on September 17, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7794699In the HBO series True Blood the premise is that an artificial human blood substitute is invented allowing for vampires to come out of hiding. Thanks to the research behind this patent issued to the Michigan Molecular Institute such an artificial blood substitute could become a reality with the help of nanotechnology...

US Patent 7794620 - Chlorestic monolayers with nanoparticles

Posted on September 17, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7794620This patent from SICPA Holding S.A. teaches the inclusion of nanoparticles in liquid crystal films to improve color change effects or add properties such as magnetization to the film. Claim 1 reads:1. Liquid-crystal monolayer comprising a three-dimensionally crosslinked, cholesteric liquid-crystal mixture and nanoparticles, wherein said nanoparticles have a particle size of 1 to 999 nm and have properties selected from the group consisting of luminescence, fluorescence, phosphorescence and magnetism.

US Patent 7791433 - Nanotube array RF filter

Posted on September 13, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7791433It has been demonstrated that carbon nanotube arrays may be used to construct tunable RF filters. However, the geometry of the nanotube array can result in a non-uniform charge distribution resulting in the creation of a DC path of current that can destroy the device...

US Patent 7791194 - Nanotube composite interconnect

Posted on September 13, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7791194This patent is from a company called Oracle America and teaches using the electrical and thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes to enhance interconnects used in printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies. Claim 1 reads:1. A composite interconnect system comprising: a plurality of carbon nanotubes; a plurality of solder balls; and a plurality of standoff balls; wherein each of the plurality of carbon nanotubes, solder balls, and standoff balls are disposed on a first device to provide a connection to a second device.

US Patent 7791157 - Qdot photovoltaic film

Posted on September 13, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7791157Optical coating are often formed on solar cells to reflect the portion of the spectrum which is not converted to electricity and thus avoid unwanted heating of the cells which reduces efficiency. This patent from Samsung teaches using a quantum dot film in place of such reflective coatings to convert the unusable portions of the spectrum to wavelengths that can be converted to electrical energy...

US Patent 7791108 - Nanowire tunneling transistor

Posted on September 09, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7791108Conventional MOSFET devices are based on the formation of a semiconductor channel having a length and width that determines the transistor behavior. Usually the channel is defined in a substrate having opposite  doping than the source and drain regions (e...

US Patent 7790650 - Nano-carbon catalyst

Posted on September 09, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7790650This patent from NanoC teaches a carbon-based nanocatalyst used in the production of unsaturated hydrocarbons. Claim 1 reads:1. A catalyst comprising at least one support and at least one layer applied as coating to said support, said layer containing a) 50 to 95% by weight of at least one aluminum, silicon, titanium or magnesium oxide compound or a silicon carbide or a carbon support or mixtures thereof, and b) 5 to 50% by weight of at least one nanocarbon...

US Patent 7790539 - DWCNT field effect transistor

Posted on September 09, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7790539This is another patent from Sony (see also US 7719032) teaching a method to form a field effect transistor from a single multi-wall carbon nanotube. Claim 1 reads:1. A method for producing an electronic device including a multi-walled carbon nanotube having at least two layers, the method comprising the steps of: supplying current to part of an outer carbon nanotube layer to remove the part of the outer carbon molecule layer; providing at least one current-input means to the outer carbon nanotube layer; providing at least one current-output means to the outer carbon nanotube layer; and providing at least one voltage-applying means to an inner carbon nanotube layer...

US Patent 7790331 - Fuel cell with nanowire film

Posted on September 09, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7790331Conductive nanowires have been used by Nanosys to create enhanced efficiency fuel cells. This patent from HP teaches a modification of such fuel cells using photoresist as a deposition liquid for the nanowires. Claim 1 reads:1...

US Patent 7790285 - Nano-scaled graphene platelets

Posted on September 08, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7790285This patent is from Nanotek Instruments and includes some claims appearing to be fundamental to nanoscale graphene. Claim 1 reads:1. A nano-scaled graphene platelet having a length, a width, and a thickness, wherein the thickness is no greater than 100 nm and the length-to-width ratio is no less than 3.

US Patent 7790243 - Room temperature production of 3D carbon nano-onions

Posted on September 08, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7790243Laser ablation of graphite is used in some methods of fabricating carbon nanostructures but require   pressurized inert gas at a high temperature. This patent from The Aerospace Corporation teaches a way to reduce the temperature to ambient levels during carbon nanomaterial fabrication...

US Patent 7790242 - Electrostatic deposition of graphene

Posted on September 08, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7790242In order to produce single layer graphene sheets the "scotch tape" method has been employed to mechanically separate a layer from pyrolytic graphite. Some epitaxial techniques have also been used but result in multilayer graphene sheets...

US Patent 7790051 - Atom isolation with silicon nanocrystals

Posted on September 08, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7790051The manipulation of individual atoms was first achieved in the 1980's by Don Eigler of IBM using a scanning tunneling microscope. This patent from Sandia Corp. also teaches a SPM method of analyzing single atoms in which silicon nanocrystals are used to retain the atoms in particular locations...

US Patent 7787959 - Cylindrical nerve sensor with nanotude/polymer electrode

Posted on September 06, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7787959In order to attach electrodes to nerve tissue the electrode need to be formed or coated with material that will reduce the potential for nerve trauma while providing sufficient electrical conductivity to stimulate or sense the nerve...

US Patent 7786540 - Vertical nanotube fabric sensor

Posted on September 06, 2010
http://ip.com/patent/US7786540This latest patent from Nantero teaches a nanotube-based chemical sensor which may be easier to fabricate and integrate with CMOS electronics than earlier versions. Claim 1 reads:1. A sensor platform, comprising a sensor element comprising a non-woven nanotube fabric and having an electrical characterization; a support structure, comprising a substrate, for supporting the sensor element so that it may be exposed to a fluid, and having a major surface of the substrate substantially non-parallel to the sensor element; and control circuitry to electrically sense the electrical characterization of the sensor element so that the presence of a corresponding analyte may be detected...

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