LEONID M MINDLIN
Broker in Natick, MA

6588280, Jul 8, 2003

Apr 22, 2002

10/127630

Claudia J. Quigley - Lexington MA
Santhi E. Mathew - Londonderry MA
Leonid Mindlin - South Natick MA
James M. Poulin - Derry NH

MKS Instruments, Inc. - Andover MA

G01L 700

73708

A method is disclosed for providing transient temperature compensation in a pressure transducer. The transducer includes a capacitive pressure sensor, the pressure sensor including a diaphragm, at least part of the diaphragm moving in response to changes in a pressure. The transducer may further include an electronic circuit which generates an uncompensated output signal representative of the pressure. The disclosed method generates a compensated output signal according to a function of the uncompensated output signal and a difference between a temperature of the pressure sensor and a temperature of the ambient environment.

6612176, Sep 2, 2003

Dec 28, 2000

09/750428

James M. Poulin - Derry NH
Santhi E. Mathew - Londonderry NH
Leonid Mindlin - South Natick MA
Claudia J. Quigley - Lexington MA
Stephen D. Blankenship - Melrose MA

MKS Instruments, Inc. - Andover MA

G01L 1904

73708

A capacitive pressure transducer including a heater shell, a capacitive pressure sensor, an electronics assembly and a thermal barrier is presented. The sensor and the electronics assembly are disposed in the heater shell. The thermal barrier is also disposed in the heater shell and is disposed between the sensor and electronics assembly.

6687635, Feb 3, 2004

Jun 13, 2002

10/170861

Stephen F. Horne - Chelmsford MA
Philip J. Maiorana - Cambridge MA
Santhi E. Mathew - Londonderry NH
Leonid Mindlin - South Natick MA
Claudia J. Quigley - Lexington MA
Eric R. Taranto - Yucapia CA
Donald K. Smith - Belmont MA

MKS Instruments, Inc. - Andover MA

G06F 1314

702 86, 702104, 73708, 73763

A compensated sensor includes a sensor, a relatively fast feedthrough path, and a relatively slow compensation path. The relatively fast feedthrough path includes a summer and output circuitry, such as a summing amplifier. The relatively slow compensation path includes circuitry that produces one or more correction factors for such sensor deficiencies as temperature dependency, or nonlinearity effects, for example. These one or more correction factors are fed to the summer for summing with the uncompensated sensor output. Additionally, the output of the output circuitry (e. g. , summing amplifier), is fed back to the compensation circuitry where it is compared to a compensated sensor output developed by the compensation circuitry. The difference between the compensated sensor signal developed in the compensation circuitry and the output signal fed back to the compensation circuitry is also provided to the summer for summing with the one or more correction factors and the uncompensated sensor output.

6772640, Aug 10, 2004

Oct 10, 2000

09/685154

Claudia J. Quigley - Lexington MA
Kerry S. Lahey - Litchfield NH
Santhi E. Mathew - Londonderry NH
Leonid Mindlin - South Natick MA
James M. Poulin - Derry NH
Gardy St. Paul - Everett MA

MKS Instruments, Inc. - Wilmington MA

G01L 912

73718, 73724, 73708, 73756

A heater is disclosed for use with pressure transducers. The disclosed heater includes a first heating element and a second heating element. The first heating element is characterized by a first electrical resistance. The second heating element is characterized by a second electrical resistance. In preferred embodiments, the first electrical resistance is different than the second electrical resistance. The disclosed heater can be used to accurately heat a pressure transducer to at least four different operating temperatures by selectively (a) connecting the first heating element to the transducer temperature control circuitry, (b) connecting the second heating element to the transducer temperature control circuitry, (c) connecting the first and second heating elements in series with the transducer temperature control circuitry, or (d) connecting the first and second heating elements in parallel with the transducer temperature control circuitry.

5942692, Aug 24, 1999

Apr 10, 1997

8/835668

Wayne C. Haase - Acton MA
Paul M. Chizinski - New Ipswich NH
Leonid Mindlin - South Natick MA
Kerry S. Lahey - Litchfield NH

MKS Instruments, Inc. - Andover MA

G01L 912, G01R 2726

73724

A capacitive pressure sensor includes a chamber coupled to a region whose pressure is to be determined. The sensor includes a conductive flexible diaphragm and a pair of electrodes, each defining a capacitance with the diaphragm. Variations in pressure in the chamber cause deflection of the diaphragm which in turn causes variation in the capacitances. A processing circuit applies an excitation signal to the capacitances and couples the capacitances to inductive elements. A current through the inductive elements is detected to determine the difference in the sensor capacitances and, therefore, the deflection of the diaphragm and the pressure in the chamber.

2003012, Jul 3, 2003

Dec 21, 2001

10/027412

Santhi Mathew - Londonderry NH, US
Kerry Lahey - Litchfield NH, US
Leonid Mindlin - South Natick MA, US
Jim Poulin - Derry NH, US
Claudia Quigley - Lexington MA, US
Gardy St.Paul - Everett MA, US
Irving Weiner - Sharon MA, US

G01L009/00

073/753000

A pressure transducer has an output characterized by two or more slopes. A pressure transducer generates an first output signal that may be linearly proportional to the sensed pressure. The pressure transducer includes an electrical circuit that shapes the first output signal to produce a shaped output signal that according to a first function of the first output signal when the first output signal is less than the first value and according to a second function of the first output signal when the first output signal is greater than a second value. Preferably, the shaped output signal is a dual slope signal such that the shaped output signal has a first linear portion characterized by a first slope and a second linear portion characterized by a second slope. The two linear portions of the shaped output signal may intersect at a knee point which corresponds to a pressure between two preferred desired pressure ranges. Preferably, the knee point corresponds to a sensed pressure that is approximately 10 percent of the maximum pressure sensed by the device. The higher slope may correspond to lower measured pressures and the lower slope may correspond to higher measured pressures. Preferably, the higher slope is high enough that even in low output voltage ranges, the shaped output signal can be resolved by an analog-to-digital converter to a desired degree of precision. Preferably, the total range of the output voltage is the same as the total range of the first output voltage.