Inventor · Los Altos, CA, US

Robert L. Thornton

65Patents
26h-index
52Co-inventors
91Inventor score

Filing activity: Aug 7, 1980 → Sep 18, 2007

Most-cited inventions

PatentTitleAreaCited byStatus
US6201633A Micro-electromechanical based bistable color display sheets Electricity 312 Expired
US5944537A Photolithographically patterned spring contact and apparatus and methods for electrically contacting devices Electricity 117 Expired
US5978408A Highly compact vertical cavity surface emitting lasers Electricity 114 Expired
US6372356B1 Compliant substrates for growing lattice mismatched films Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies 96 Expired
US4802182A Monolithic two dimensional waveguide coupled cavity laser/modulator Electricity 79 Expired
US5062115A High density, independently addressable, surface emitting semiconductor laser/light emitting diode arrays Electricity 68 Expired
US5337074A Opto-electronic line printer having a high density, independently addressable, surface emitting semiconductor laser/light emitting diode array Electricity 64 Expired
US6002705A Wavelength and polarization multiplexed vertical cavity surface emitting lasers Electricity 62 Expired
US5384797A Monolithic multi-wavelength laser diode array Electricity 59 Expired
US5708674A Semiconductor laser or array formed by layer intermixing Electricity 53 Expired
US6603781B1 Multi-wavelength transmitter Electricity 52 Expired
US6246708A Semiconductor laser with associated electronic components integrally formed therewith Electricity 49 Expired
US4870652A Monolithic high density arrays of independently addressable semiconductor laser sources Electricity 48 Expired
US7283242B2 Optical spectroscopy apparatus and method for measurement of analyte concentrations or other such species in a specimen employing a semiconductor laser-pumped, small-cavity fiber laser Electricity 47 Expired
US6208681A Highly compact vertical cavity surface emitting lasers Electricity 44 Expired
US5386428A Stacked active region laser array for multicolor emissions Electricity 40 Expired
US4831629A Incoherent, optically coupled laser arrays with increased spectral width Electricity 38 Expired
US6297068A Method for highly compact vertical cavity surface emitting lasers Electricity 34 Expired
US4875216A Buried waveguide window regions for improved performance semiconductor lasers and other opto-electronic applications Electricity 33 Expired
US4830983A Method of enhanced introduction of impurity species into a semiconductor structure from a deposited source and application thereof Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies 32 Expired
US5162239A Laser crystallized cladding layers for improved amorphous silicon light-emitting diodes and radiation sensors Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies 31 Expired
US5319655A Multiwavelength laterally-injecting-type lasers Electricity 31 Expired
US5210766A Laser crystallized cladding layers for improved amorphous silicon light-emitting diodes and radiation sensors Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies 30 Expired
US4731789A Clad superlattice semiconductor laser Electricity 28 Expired
US4824798A Method of introducing impurity species into a semiconductor structure from a deposited source Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies 28 Expired

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Inventor disambiguation is heuristic; counts are objective bibliographic measures.