Patents by Inventor Etsuo Wani

Etsuo Wani has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 8277560
    Abstract: A CVD apparatus cleaning method that efficiently removes by-product such as SiO2 or Si3N4 adhered to and deposited on surfaces of an inner wall, an electrode, and the like in a reaction chamber at a film forming step. In the cleaning method the discharged cleaning gas amount is very small, environmental influences such as global warming can be lessened, and cost can be reduced. A CVD apparatus supplying reactive gas into a reaction chamber and forming a deposited film on a surface of a base material provided in the reaction chamber includes an exhaust gas recycling path recycling an exhaust gas reaching the reaction chamber from downstream of a pump on an exhaust path for exhausting a gas from an inner part of the reaction chamber through the pump.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2003
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignees: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Canon Anelva Corporation, Ulvac, Inc., Kanto Denka Kogyo Co., Ltd., Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Showa Denko K.K., Sony Corporation, Tokyo Eectron Limited, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc., Panasonic Corporation, Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, Renesas Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Katsuo Sakai, Seiji Okura, Masaji Sakamura, Kaoru Abe, Hitoshi Murata, Etsuo Wani, Kenji Kameda, Yuki Mitsui, Yutaka Ohira, Taisuke Yonemura, Akira Sekiya
  • Patent number: 8043438
    Abstract: An apparatus for cleaning a CVD apparatus that can efficiently remove a by-product such as SiO2 or Si3N4 stuck and deposited onto the surface of an internal wall, an electrode, or the like in a reaction chamber in a film forming process, and a method for cleaning a CVD apparatus. A control monitors luminous intensity data of an F radical in a reaction chamber by optical emission spectroscopy and compares the data with calibrated prestored luminous intensity data, and ends cleaning after a predetermined time passes from reaching a luminous intensity saturation point. Furthermore, concentration data of SiF4 in a gas discharged from the reaction chamber are monitored by a Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and compared with prestored concentration data of SiF4 to decide that the predetermined time has passed when a predetermined cleaning end point concentration is reached, thereby ending the cleaning.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2011
    Assignees: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Canon Anelva Corporation, Ulvac, Inc., Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation, Tokyo Electron Limited, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc., Renesas Electronics Corporation, Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited
    Inventors: Katsuo Sakai, Kaoru Abe, Seiji Okura, Masaji Sakamura, Hitoshi Murata, Kenji Kameda, Etsuo Wani, Akira Sekiya
  • Publication number: 20060207630
    Abstract: An apparatus for cleaning a CVD apparatus that can efficiently remove a by-product such as SiO2 or Si3N4 stuck and deposited onto the surface of an internal wall, an electrode, or the like in a reaction chamber in a film forming process, and a method for cleaning a CVD apparatus. A control monitors luminous intensity data of an F radical in a reaction chamber by optical emission spectroscopy and compares the data with calibrated prestored luminous intensity data, and ends cleaning after a predetermined time passes from reaching a luminous intensity saturation point. Furthermore, concentration data of SiF4 in a gas discharged from the reaction chamber are monitored by a Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and compared with prestored concentration data of SiF4 to decide that the predetermined time has passed when a predetermined cleaning end point concentration is reached, thereby ending the cleaning.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 12, 2004
    Publication date: September 21, 2006
    Applicants: RESEARCH INST. OF INNOVATIVE TECH. FOR THE EARTH, National Inst. of Adv. Industrial Sci. and Tech
    Inventors: Katsuo Sakai, Kaoru Abe, Seiji Okura, Masaji Sakamura, Hitoshi Murata, Kenji Kameda, Etsuo Wani, Akira Sekiya
  • Publication number: 20060201533
    Abstract: There is provided a CVD apparatus capable of efficiently removing a by-product such as SiO2 or Si3N4 which is stuck and deposited onto the surface of an internal wall, an electrode or the like in a CVD chamber in a film forming process, and furthermore, executing cleaning having a small damage over an upper electrode and a counter electrode stage (a lower electrode) and manufacturing a thin film of high quality, and a CVD apparatus cleaning method using the same. In a CVD apparatus cleaning method of introducing a cleaning gas to carry out plasma cleaning over an inside of a CVD chamber after forming a deposited film on a surface of a substrate, a frequency of an RF to be applied to an RF electrode is switched into a first frequency to be applied for forming a film and a second frequency to be applied when executing the plasma cleaning.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 12, 2004
    Publication date: September 14, 2006
    Applicant: RESEARCH INST. OF INNOVATIVE TECH. FOR THE EARTH
    Inventors: Etsuo Wani, Katsuo Sakai, Seiji Okura, Masaji Sakamura, Kaoru Abe, Hitoshi Murata, Kenji Kameda
  • Publication number: 20050252451
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a cleaning method in a CVD apparatus capable of efficiently removing a by-product such as SiO2 or Si3N4 which is adhered to and deposited on the surfaces of an inner wall, an electrode and the like in a reaction chamber at a film forming step. Furthermore, it is an object to provide a cleaning method in which the amount of a cleaning gas to be discharged is very small, an influence on an environment such as global warming is also lessened and a cost can also be reduced. An energy is applied to a fluorine compound to react the fluorine compound, thereby generating a fluorine gas component and a component other than the fluorine gas component. Furthermore, the fluorine gas component and the component other than the fluorine gas component which are generated are separated from each other so that the fluorine gas component is separated and refined.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 13, 2003
    Publication date: November 17, 2005
    Inventors: Tatsuro Beppu, Katsuo Sakai, Seiji Okura, Masaji Sakamura, Kaoru Abe, Hitoshi Murata, Etsuo Wani, Kenji Kameda, Yuki Mitsui, Yutaka Ohira, Taisuke Yonemura, Akira Sekiya
  • Patent number: 6935351
    Abstract: A cleaning method for CVD apparatus wherein by-products such as SiO2 and Si3N4 adhered to and deposited on surfaces of the inner wall, electrodes and other parts of a reaction chamber at the stage of film formation can be removed efficiently. Furthermore, the amount of cleaning gas discharged is so small that the influence on environment such as global warming is little and cost reduction can be also attained. After the film formation on a base material surface by the use of CVD apparatus, a fluorinated cleaning gas containing a fluorcompound is converted to plasma by means of a remote plasma generator, and the cleaning gas having been converted to plasma is introduced into a reaction chamber so that any by-products adhered to inner parts of the reaction chamber is removed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2005
    Assignees: Anelva Corporation, Ulvac, Inc., Kanto Denka Kogyo Co., Ltd., Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation, Daikin Industries, Ltd., Tokyo Electron Limited, NEC Electronics Corporation, Hitachi Kokusai Electric Inc., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha, Renesas Technology Corp.
    Inventors: Koji Shibata, Naoto Tsuji, Hitoshi Murata, Etsuo Wani, Yoshihide Kosano
  • Publication number: 20040255854
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a cleaning method in a CVD apparatus capable of efficiently removing a by-product such as SiO2 or Si3N4 which is adhered to and deposited on the surfaces of an inner wall, an electrode and the like in a reaction chamber and the side wall of a piping of an exhaust path or the like at a film forming step, in which the amount of a cleaning gas to be discharged is very small, an influence on an environment such as global warming can also be lessened and a cost can also be reduced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2004
    Publication date: December 23, 2004
    Inventors: Katsuo Sakai, Seiji Okura, Masaji Sakamura, Kaoru Abe, Hitoshi Murata, Etsuo Wani, Kenji Kameda, Yuki Mitsui, Yutada Ohira, Taisuke Yonemura, Akira Sekiya
  • Publication number: 20040250775
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a cleaning method in a CVD apparatus capable of efficiently removing a by-product such as SiO2 or Si3N4 which is adhered to and deposited on the surfaces of an inner wall, an electrode and the like in a reaction chamber at a film forming step, in which the amount of a cleaning gas to be discharged is very small, an influence on an environment such as global warming is also lessened and a cost can also be reduced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2004
    Publication date: December 16, 2004
    Inventors: Katsuo Sakai, Seiji Okura, Masaji Sakamura, Kaoru Abe, Hitoshi Murata, Etsuo Wani, Kenji Kameda, Yuki Mitsui, Yutaka Ohira, Taisuke Yonemura, Akira Sekiya
  • Publication number: 20030079757
    Abstract: A cleaning method for CVD apparatus wherein by-products such as SiO2 and Si3N4 adhered to and deposited on surfaces of the inner wall, electrodes and other parts of a reaction chamber at the stage of film formation can be removed efficiently. Furthermore, the amount of cleaning gas discharged is so small that the influence on environment such as global warming is little and cost reduction can be also attained. After the film formation on a base material surface by the use of CVD apparatus, a fluorinated cleaning gas containing a fluorcompound is converted to plasma by means of a remote plasma generator, and the cleaning gas having been converted to plasma is introduced into a reaction chamber so that any by-products adhered to inner parts of the reaction chamber is removed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2002
    Publication date: May 1, 2003
    Inventors: Koji Shibata, Naoto Tsuji, Hitoshi Murata, Etsuo Wani, Yoshihide Kosano
  • Patent number: 5087341
    Abstract: A dry etching apparatus with the use of reactive gas plasma is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a vacuum chamber, and first and second electrodes opposite to each other in the chamber for generating therebetween gas plasma by discharging while introducing reactive gas in the chamber thereby etching a sample placed on the first electrode. A cover member is provided for covering at least the periphery portion positioned at the outer side of the sample on the surface of the first electrode. The reactive gas introducer is provided on the second electrode at the position opposite to the sample thereby directing the gas to the sample.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 1990
    Date of Patent: February 11, 1992
    Assignee: ANELVA Corporation
    Inventors: Tsutomu Tsukada, Etsuo Wani, Koki Yasuda
  • Patent number: 4482419
    Abstract: In a dry etching apparatus comprising a plurality of etching chambers each of which comprises a first and a second electrode member opposite to each other, an object is successively etched in each etching chamber, with the object supported on either the first or the second electrode member, under different distributions of etching rate. When the object is placed on the first electrode member in each etching chamber and a gas is introduced through an aperture formed on the second electrode member, each distribution of etching rate can be varied by changing a position of the aperture. A side wall member may be extended from a periphery of the second electrode member towards the first electrode member in each etching chamber to confine plasma within a space defined by the first and the second electrode members and the side wall member. The side wall member is varied in length and/or diameter from an etching chamber to another to realize the different distributions of etching rate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 1984
    Date of Patent: November 13, 1984
    Assignee: Anelva Corporation
    Inventors: Tsutomu Tsukada, Etsuo Wani, Katsumi Ukai, Teruo Saitoh