8971results about "Welding/soldering/cutting articles" patented technology

The present invention is a more durable expanded material that enables thinner wall thicknesses and a more flexible reinforcement suitable for stenting. The present invention is especially useful in the construction of grafts, stents, and stent-grafts which are used, for example, in repairing or replacing blood vessels that are narrowed or occluded by disease, aneurismal blood vessels, or other medical treatments. The inventive material and configurations allow expansion or contraction in size or adjustment in size in an incremental manner so that the optimum size, shape, and fit with other objects can be obtained. The present invention is also optionally capable of more accurately delivering one or more active ingredients such as drugs over longer periods of time. The present invention optionally includes surface modifications and additives that increase the surface adhesion of active ingredients, coatings, or combinations thereof. Finally, the present invention optionally includes growing cells on the inventive material so that the expanded material, reinforcement, or combinations thereof are useful, for example, in producing lab-grown blood vessels or organs.

The present invention disclosed a method of producing a three-dimensional porous tissue in-growth structure. The method includes the steps of depositing a first layer of metal powder and scanning the first layer of metal powder with a laser beam to form a portion of a plurality of predetermined unit cells. Depositing at least one additional layer of metal powder onto a previous layer and repeating the step of scanning a laser beam for at least one of the additional layers in order to continuing forming the predetermined unit cells. The method further includes continuing the depositing and scanning steps to form a medical implant.

A method of cutting material for use in an implantable medical device employs a plotted laser cutting system. The laser cutting system is computer controlled and includes a laser combined with a motion system. The laser precisely cuts segments out of source material according to a predetermined pattern as designated by the computer. The segments are used in constructing implantable medical devices. The cutting energy of the laser is selected so that the cut edges of the segments are melted to discourage delamination or fraying, but communication of thermal energy into the segment beyond the edge is minimized to avoid damaging the segment adjacent the edge.

Devices and methods are provided for an implantable medical device which is degradable over a clinically relevant period of time. The medical devices may have the form of implants, graft implants, vascular implants, non vascular implants, wound closure implants, sutures, drug delivery implants, biologic delivery implants, urinary tract implants, inter-uterine implants, organ implants, bone implants including bone plates, bone screws, dental implants, spinal disks, or the like. In preferred embodiments, the implantable medical device comprises an implantable luminal prosthesis, such as vascular and non-vascular stents and stents grafts.

Methods for manufacturing ultrasonic waveguides having improved velocity gain are disclosed. Additionally, methods for manufacturing ultrasonic medical devices including the ultrasonic waveguides are disclosed. Specifically, the ultrasonic waveguides comprises a first material having a higher acoustic impedance and a second material having a lower acoustic impedance.

Method and devices are disclosed for device manufacture of gallium nitride devices by growing a gallium nitride layer on a silicon substrate using Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) followed by rapid thermal annealing. Gallium nitride is grown directly on silicon or on a barrier layer of aluminum nitride grown on the silicon substrate. One or both layers are thermally processed by rapid thermal annealing. Preferably the ALD process use a reaction temperature below 550° C. and preferable below 350° C. The rapid thermal annealing step raises the temperature of the coating surface to a temperature ranging from 550 to 1500° C. for less than 12 msec.

A process and apparatus for free form fabrication of a three-dimensional work piece comprising (a) feeding raw material in a solid state to a first predetermined location; (b) depositing the raw material onto a substrate as a molten pool deposit under a first processing condition; (c) monitoring the molten pool deposit for a preselected condition; (d) comparing information about the preselected condition of the monitored molten pool deposit with a predetermined desired value for the preselected condition of the monitored molten pool deposit; (e) solidifying the molten pool deposit; (f) automatically altering the first processing condition to a different processing condition based upon information obtained from the comparing step (d); and repeating steps (a) through (f) at one or more second locations for building up layer by layer a three-dimensional work piece. The apparatus is characterized by a detector that monitors a preselected condition of the deposited material and a closed loop electronic control device for controlling operation of one or more components of the apparatus in response to a detected condition by the detector.

A method of producing a biocompatible microporous membrane comprising the steps of providing a biocompatible membrane and using an energy beam to form a set of pores having a minor axis of less than 15 μm through the biocompatible membrane. One embodiment includes the steps of producing a first layer of material, defining a first set of pores; producing a second layer of material, defining a second set of pores and wherein the second set of pores is defined so as to cooperatively engage the first set of pores; and aligning and joining the first layer of material to the second layer of material to form a laminated membrane, having through-passageways formed by the first set of pores at least partially aligned with the second set of pores.

Apparatus, systems, and methods for forming a photovoltaic cell from a common layer on a substrate are provided. A first pass is made with a first laser beam over an area on the common layer. The first pass forms a groove in the common layer. The first pass forms within the common layer a first edge and a second edge. The first edge is separated from the second edge by the groove. The groove provides a first level of electrical isolation between the first edge and the second edge. A second pass is made with a second laser beam over approximately the same area on the common layer. The second pass provides a second level of electrical isolation between the first edge and the second edge. The second level of electrical isolation is greater than the first level of electrical isolation.

A method of forming a conductor in a thin film structure on a semiconductor substrate includes forming high aspect ratio openings in a base layer having vertical side walls, depositing a dielectric barrier layer comprising a dielectric compound of a barrier metal on the surfaces of the high aspect ratio openings including the vertical side walls, depositing a metal barrier layer comprising the barrier metal on the first barrier layer, depositing a main conductor species seed layer on the metal barrier layer and depositing a main conductor layer. The method further includes annealing the main conductor layer by (a) directing light from an array of continuous wave lasers into a line of light extending at least partially across the thin film structure, and (b) translating the line of light relative to the thin film structure in a direction transverse to the line of light. The method of Claim 1 further comprising, prior to the annealing step, depositing an amorphous carbon optical absorber layer on the main conductor layer. The step of depositing an amorphous carbon optical absorber layer includes introducing a carbon-containing process gas into a reactor chamber containing the substrate in a process zone of the reactor, applying RF source power to an external reentrant conduit of the reactor to generate a reentrant toroidal RF plasma current passing through the process zone and applying a bias voltage to the substrate.

The present application is directed to a method of modifying a surface of an article and includes irradiating pulsed laser light output at repetition rates in excess of about 1kHz, directing the laser light to a spot on the surface, and producing micro-grooved surfaces having one or more grooves formed thereon, the grooves having groove depths in the range of about 1 μm to about 100 μm.

The present invention relates to the apparatus, system and method for dicing of semiconductor wafers using an ultrafast laser pulse of femtosecond and picosecond pulse widths directly from the ultrafast laser oscillator without an amplifier. Thin and ultrathin simiconductor wafers below 250 micrometer thickness, are diced using diode pumped, solid state mode locked ultrafast laser pulses from oscillator without amplification. The invention disclosed has means to avoid/reduce the cumulative heating effect and to avoid machine quality degrading in multi shot ablation. Also the disclosed invention provides means to change the polarization state of the laser beam to reduce the focused spot size, and improve the machining efficiency and quality. The disclosed invention provides a cost effective and stable system for high volume manufacturing applications. An ultrafast laser oscillator can be a called as femtosecond laser oscillator or a picosecond laser oscillator depending on the pulse width of the laser beam generated.

A laser processing method which can highly accurately cut objects to be processed having various laminate structures is provided. An object to be processed comprising a substrate and a laminate part disposed on the front face of the substrate is irradiated with laser light L while a light-converging point P is positioned at least within the substrate, so as to form a modified region due to multiphoton absorption at least within the substrate, and cause the modified region to form a starting point region for cutting. When the object is cut along the starting point region for cutting, the object 1 can be cut with a high accuracy.

Strengthened glass substrate sheets and methods of fabricating glass panels from glass substrate sheets are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes forming at least one series of holes through a thickness of the glass substrate sheet, wherein the at least one series of holes defines a perimeter of the glass panel to be separated from the glass substrate sheet. The method further includes strengthening the glass substrate sheet by a strengthening process, and separating the glass panel from the glass substrate sheet along the at least one series of holes. At least a portion of one or more edges of the glass panel has an associated edge compressive layer. In another embodiment, a strengthened glass substrate sheet includes at least one series of holes that defines a perimeter of one or more glass panels to be separated from the strengthened glass substrate sheet.

A method of making a stent includes providing a tubular member having a first layer, the first layer and the tubular member having different compositions, removing a portion of the tubular member, and removing a portion of the first layer from the tubular member.

A biodegradable stent comprising a luminal surface portion with a second degree of crosslink, an outer surface portion with a first degree of crosslink, and a body between the luminal and outer surface portions, wherein the body comprises a crosslinked material characterized by the first degree of crosslink not less than the second degree of crosslink.

An additive manufacturing process (110) wherein a powder (116) including a superalloy material and flux is selectively melted in layers with a laser beam (124) to form a superalloy component (126). The flux performs a cleaning function to react with contaminants to float them to the surface of the melt to form a slag. The flux also provides a shielding function, thereby eliminating the need for an inert cover gas. The powder may be a mixture of alloy and flux particles, or it may be formed of composite alloy/flux particles.

A substrate dividing method which can thin and divide a substrate while preventing chipping and cracking from occurring. This substrate dividing method comprises the steps of irradiating a semiconductor substrate 1 having a front face 3 formed with functional devices 19 with laser light while positioning a light-converging point within the substrate, so as to form a modified region including a molten processed region due to multiphoton absorption within the semiconductor substrate 1, and causing the modified region including the molten processed region to form a starting point region for cutting; and grinding a rear face 21 of the semiconductor substrate 1 after the step of forming the starting point region for cutting such that the semiconductor substrate 1 attains a predetermined thickness.

Patterned articles, such as RFID antenna, are made by subablation, a process comprising the steps of:A. providing a substrate having a coating, such as a metal or metal oxide, and an interface comprising the thin region where the coating and the substrate are closest to each other;B. exposing at least one part of the total area of the coating to a flux of electromagnetic energy, such as a focused excimer laser beam, sufficient to disrupt the interface but insufficient to ablate the coating; andC. removing the parts of the coating in registry with the portion of the interface area that was disrupted, by means such as ultrasonic agitation.The process has advantages over photo-resist processes in that there is no residual chemical resist left on the product and no undercutting of the pattern or image. It has advantages over laser ablation processes in that higher throughput is possible at the same energy level and there is no microscopic debris left on the product surface.

A laser beam machining method and a laser beam machining device capable of cutting a work without producing a fusing and a cracking out of a predetermined cutting line on the surface of the work, wherein a pulse laser beam is radiated on the predetermined cut line on the surface of the work under the conditions causing a multiple photon absorption and with a condensed point aligned to the inside of the work, and a modified area is formed inside the work along the predetermined determined cut line by moving the condensed point along the predetermined cut line, whereby the work can be cut with a rather small force by cracking the work along the predetermined cut line starting from the modified area and, because the pulse laser beam radiated is not almost absorbed onto the surface of the work, the surface is not fused even if the modified area is formed.

A method for machining a transparent material by the non-linear absorption of pulsed laser radiation, in the region of a laser focus, includes the following steps: a laser wavelength of between 300 and 1000 μm is selected; and laser impulses having a temporally flat beam profile are applied. The method is characterized in that the irradiation intensity is selected from an interval pre-determined for the material to be machined, in which plasma is formed without plasma luminescence. An apparatus for laser treating a transparent material includes structure to set an irradiance and inspect the treatment as being within a defined interval.

Polymeric composite stents reinforced with fibers for implantation into a bodily lumen are disclosed.

Various embodiments may be used for laser-based modification of target material of a workpiece while advantageously achieving improvements in processing throughput and/or quality. Embodiments of a method of processing may include focusing and directing laser pulses to a region of the workpiece at a pulse repetition rate sufficiently high so that material is efficiently removed from the region and a quantity of unwanted material within the region, proximate to the region, or both is reduced relative to a quantity obtainable at a lower repetition rate. In at least one embodiment, an ultrashort pulse laser system may include at least one of a fiber amplifier or fiber laser. Various embodiments are suitable for at least one of dicing, cutting, scribing, and forming features on or within a semiconductor substrate. Workpiece materials may also include metals, inorganic or organic dielectrics, or any material to be micromachined with femtosecond and/or picosecond pulses, and in some embodiments with pulse widths up to a few nanoseconds.

Methods and systems are provided for the split and separation of a layer of desired thickness of crystalline semiconductor material containing optical, photovoltaic, electronic, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS), or optoelectronic devices, from a thicker donor wafer using laser irradiation.

An apparatus and a method of using the apparatus wherein a radiation emitter is positioned adjacent a sensor apparatus within a process chamber in a laser sinter system that emits radiation to the sensor apparatus and a calibration apparatus receives readings from the sensor apparatus to compare temperature sensings received from the sensor apparatus with set emission signals from the radiation emitter to adjust the temperature sensings to calibrate the sensor apparatus during the forming of a three-dimensional article. The calibration is done repeatedly during the build process of the three-dimensional article.

According to one embodiment of the invention, a method for controlling the size of the molten pool in a laser based additive manufacturing process includes coaxially aligning an imaging device with a laser nozzle and imaging a molten pool, created by a laser, on a substrate with the imaging device. The method further includes comparing at least one characteristic of the molten pool with a respective characteristic of a target molten pool, and adjusting, in substantially real-time, a laser power of the laser based on the comparison in order to correlate the characteristic of the molten pool with the respective characteristic of the target molten pool.

A method for making an implantable stent includes the steps of (i) providing a plurality of elongate stent wires; (ii) forming said wires into a hollow tubular structure having opposed first and second open ends; (iii) terminating said wires at the second end; (iv) aligning the wires at the second end into a plurality of mated adjacent wires to define a plurality of abutting regions; (v) welding the mated adjacent wires to one and the other at the abutting regions to define a plurality of welds; and optionally (vi) chemically or electro-chemically removing a portion of the welds. The method may further include the steps of (a) extending at least one of the mated stent wires to provide an extended stent wire; (b) looping the extended stent wire so the extended end abuts a proximal pair of stent wires; and (c) welding the extended and looped wire to the proximal pair of wires. The step of looping may include the forming of the wire into a equilaterally arched loop having an apex, but not having other sharp bends.

The present invention provides a laser processing method comprising the steps of attaching a protective tape 25 to a front face 3 of a wafer 1a, irradiating a substrate 15 with laser light L while employing a rear face of the wafer 1a as a laser light entrance surface and locating a light-converging point P within the substrate 15 so as to form a molten processed region 13 due to multiphoton absorption, causing the molten processed region 13 to form a cutting start region 8 inside by a predetermined distance from the laser light entrance surface along a line 5 along which the object is intended to be cut in the wafer 1a, attaching an expandable tape 23 to the rear face 21 of the wafer 1a, and expanding the expandable tape 23 so as to separate a plurality of chip parts 24 produced upon cutting the wafer 1a from the cutting start region 8 acting as a start point from each other.

A method and apparatus for embedding features and controlling material composition in a three-dimensional structure (130) is disclosed. The invention enables the control of material characteristics, within a structure (130) made from a plurality of materials, directly from computer renderings of solid models of the components. The method uses stereolithography and solid model computer file formats to control a multi-axis head (480) in a directed material deposition process (123). Material feedstock (126, 127) is deposited onto a pre-heated substrate (19). Depositions (15) in a layer-by-layer pattern, defined by solid models (141, 146), create a three-dimensional article having complex geometric details. Thermal management of finished solid articles (250-302), not available through conventional processing techniques, is enabled by embedded voids (152) and/or composite materials (126, 127), which include dissimilar metals (210, 216). Finished articles control pressure drop and produce uniform coolant flow and pressure characteristics. High-efficiency heat transfer is engineered within a solid structure by incorporating other solid materials with diverse indexes. Embedding multi-material structures (132, 134) within a normally solid component (141) produces articles with diverse mechanical properties. Laser and powder delivery systems (420, 170) are integrated in a multi-axis deposition head (480) having a focused particle beam (502) to reduce material waste.

The invention provides a method for separating semiconductor light-emitting devices formed on a substrate. In the method, a pulse laser beam having a pulse width less than 10 ps in a substrate is focused on the substrate, to thereby cause multi-photon absorption in the substrate. Through multi-photon absorption, a groove is formed through the pulse laser beam along a split line predetermined on a surface of the substrate, the groove being substantially continuous in the direction of the predetermined split line. In addition, internal structurally changed portions are formed through the pulse laser beam at a predetermined depth of the substrate on a predetermined split face, the structurally changed portions being discontinuous in the direction of the predetermined split line. Subsequently, an external force is applied to thereby form a split face along the continuous groove and the discontinuous internal structurally changed portions, whereby the semiconductor light-emitting devices are separated from one another