MicroContinuum Assigned Patent

MicroContinuum, Inc., Cambridge, MA, has been assigned a patent (10,546,607) developed by Slafer, W. Dennis, Arlington, MA, for “replication tools and related fabrication methods and apparatus.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Durable seamless replication tools are disclosed for replication of seamless relief patterns in desired media, for example in optical recording or data storage media. Methods of making such durable replication tools are disclosed, including preparing a recording substrate on the inner surface of a support cylinder, recording and developing a relief pattern in the substrate, creating a durable negative relief replica of the pattern, extracting the resulting durable tool sleeve from a processing cell, and mounting the tool sleeve on a mounting fixture. Apparatus are disclosed for fabricating such seamless replication tools, including systems for recording a desired relief pattern on a photosensitive layer on an inner surface of a support cylinder. Also disclosed are electrodeposition cells for forming a durable tool sleeve having a desired relief pattern. The replication tool relief features may have critical dimensions down to the micron and nanometer regime.”

The patent application was filed on July 19, 2016 (15/213,907).