James Drew Culp

20040210863, Oct 21, 2004

Apr 16, 2003

10/249524

James Culp - Downingtown PA, US
Mark Lavin - Katonah NY, US
Robert Sayah - Poughkeepsie NY, US

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION - ARMONK NY

G06F017/50

716/021000, 716/004000

A method of predicting overlay failure of circuit configurations on adjacent, lithographically produced layers of a semiconductor wafer comprises providing design configurations for circuit portions to be lithographically produced on one or more adjacent layers of a semiconductor wafer, and then predicting shape and alignment for each circuit portions on each adjacent layer using one or more predetermined values for process fluctuation or misalignment error. The method then determines dimension of overlap of the predicted shape and alignment of the circuit portions, and compares the determined dimension of overlap to a theoretical minimum to determine whether the predicted dimension of overlap fails. Using different process fluctuation values and misalignment error values, the steps are then iteratively repeated on the provided design configurations to determine whether the predicted dimension of overlap fails, and a report is made of the measure of failures.

54997852, Mar 19, 1996

Sep 15, 1994

8/306745

James P. Roberts - Claymont DE
James D. Culp - Newark DE
David G. Miller - Philadelphia PA
Martin R. Sarsfield - Wilmington DE

The Boeing Company - Seattle WA

B64D 112

2441374

A method and apparatus for automatically jettisoning cargo carried by a dual-point suspension system when a suspension system failure is detected. Three conditions must be satisfied before a load is jettisoned. The average value of the load and an instantaneous value of the load on a hook must have fallen below a threshold value (zero load condition). A threshold amount of the load must have shifted from one hook to the other (dynamic load split condition). A threshold amount of an initial hook load must have been lost within a short period of time (rapid rate-of-decrease condition). For all three conditions, the threshold amount or value is adaptively set based on the actual load carried by the dual-point suspension. If all three conditions are satisfied for either the forward or the aft hook, the cargo is jettisoned. Additionally, a fourth condition that detects whether a structural limit of a hook has been exceeded is evaluated.