ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,431,330, issued on Sept. 30, was assigned to Applied Materials Inc. (Santa Clara, Calif.).
"Helical voltage standoff" was invented by Diana C. Gronski (Salisbury, Mass.), Alicia Chen (Malden, Mass.), Craig R. Chaney (Gloucester, Mass.) and Adam M. McLaughlin (Merrimac, Mass.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An insulator that has a helical protrusion spiraling around the shaft is disclosed. A lip is disposed on the distal end of the helical protrusion, creating regions on the shaft that are shielded from material deposition by the lip. By proper sizing of the threads, the helical protrusion and the lip, the line-of-sight to the interior wa...