Robert Allen Moreland, 868774 Endless Ocean Way, Columbia, MD 21045

6490965, Dec 10, 2002

Jun 4, 2001

09/873884

Robert Glenn Moreland - Vienna VA, 22180

C12G 108

992771, 99277, 426 11, 426 8

An airlock assembly for allowing fermentation gasses to escape from a sealed fermentation vessel and preventing ambient gasses from entering the fermentation vessel and including a structure for producing electrical signals that can be used to detect said escape of fermentation gasses.

6597185, Jul 22, 2003

Sep 20, 2000

09/665370

Vladimir Vladimirovich Talanov - Greenbelt MD
Hans M. Christen - Greenbelt MD
Robert Moreland - Edgewater MD

Neocera, Inc. - Beltsville MD

G01R 2704

324638, 324646, 324690, 324753, 250306

An apparatus for localized measurements of complex permittivity of a material is provided. A probe ( ) analyzes the complex permittivity of a sample ( ), the probe ( ) having a balanced two conductor transmission line ( ) formed of conductive segments ( and ). A probing end ( ) of the transmission line ( ) is brought within close proximity of sample ( ) and an opposite end ( ) of the transmission line is connected to a terminating plate ( ) to form a resonator structure ( ) for measurement of the complex permittivity of sample ( ).

6680617, Jan 20, 2004

Oct 9, 2002

10/266611

Robert L. Moreland - Lothian MD
Hans M. Christen - Knoxville TN
Vladimir V. Talanov - Greenbelt MD
Andrew R. Schwartz - Bethesda MD

Neocera, Inc. - Beltsville MD

G01R 2704

324638, 324690, 324754

A probe for non-destructive determination of complex permittivity of a material and for near field optical microscopy is based on a balanced multi-conductor transmission line structure created on a dielectric substrate member which confines the probing field within a sharply defined sampling volume in the material under study.

6856140, Feb 15, 2005

Apr 14, 2003

10/412295

Vladimir V. Talanov - Greenbelt MD, US
Robert L. Moreland - Lothian MD, US
Andrew R. Schwartz - Bethesda MD, US
Hans M. Christen - Knoxville TN, US

Neocera, Inc. - Beltsville MD

G01R027/04

324638, 324637

A method for measuring a material's complex permittivity is provided where a near-field microwave probe is positioned a predetermined distance from a first and a second standard sample for measuring a relative resonant frequency shift of the near-field microwave probe for standard samples. Based on measurements, calibration coefficients are calculated. A relative resonant frequency shift of the near-field microwave probe for a sample under study is measured by fast frequency sweep technique while the distance between the tip of the probe and the sample under the study is maintained nominally at the distance between the tip of the probe and each standard sample during a calibration procedure by a shear-force based distance control mechanism. Also, the change in the quality factor of the probe for unloaded and loaded resonator is measured. The dielectric constant of the sample under study is calculated using the resonant frequency shift and the change in the quality factor of the near-field microwave probe for the sample under study and the calibration coefficients obtained during the calibration procedure.

6959481, Nov 1, 2005

Mar 21, 2003

10/392918

Robert L. Moreland - Lothian MD, US
Hans M. Christen - Knoxville TN, US
Vladimir V. Talanov - Greenbelt MD, US
Andrew R. Schwartz - Bethesda MD, US

Neocera, Inc. - Beltsville MD

H01S004/00

295921, 29595, 29825

A probe for non-destructive determination of complex permittivity of a material and for near field optical microscopy is based on a balanced multi-conductor transmission line structure created on a dielectric substrate member which confines the probing field within a sharply defined sampling volume in the material under study. A method for manufacturing dielectric support member based probes includes anisotropically depositing a 50-100 Å thick underlayer of Cr, Ni, W or Ta onto the dielectric support member, anisotropically depositing conductive material onto the Cr, Ni, W or Ta underlayer, and removing the unwanted conductive material at the sides of the dielectric support member to electrically isolate the created conductive strips.

7285963, Oct 23, 2007

Apr 8, 2005

11/101517

Vladimir V. Talanov - Ellicott City MD, US
Andrew R. Schwartz - Bethesda MD, US
Andre Scherz - Baltimore MD, US
Robert L. Moreland - Lothian MD, US

Solid State Measurements, Inc. - Pittsburgh PA

H01P 7/00
G01R 27/04

324635, 324633, 324601

A measurement technique based on a microwave near-field scanning probe is developed for non-contact measurement of dielectric constant of low-k films. The technique is non-destructive, non-invasive and can be used on both porous and non-porous dielectrics. The technique is based on measurement of resonant frequency shift of the near-field microwave resonator for a plurality of calibration samples vs. distance between the probe tip and the sample to construct a calibration curve. Probe resonance frequency shift measured for the sample under study vs. tip-sample separation is fitted into the calibration curve to extract the dielectric constant of the sample under study. The calibration permits obtaining a linear calibration curve in order to simplify the extraction of the dielectric constant of the sample under study.