Patents by Inventor Masami Akimoto

Masami Akimoto 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).

  • Publication number: 20160118275
    Abstract: Disclosed is a substrate liquid processing apparatus including a substrate holding unit configured to hold a substrate; a processing liquid nozzle configured to supply a processing liquid to the substrate held by the substrate holding unit; a nozzle arm configured to hold the processing liquid nozzle; and an arm cleaning tank configured to immerse the entire surface of the nozzle arm in a cleaning liquid so as to clean the nozzle arm.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2015
    Publication date: April 28, 2016
    Inventors: Shigehisa Inoue, Jiro Higashijima, Masami Akimoto
  • Publication number: 20150114561
    Abstract: A liquid processing apparatus of the present disclosure performs a liquid processing by supplying a processing liquid to a substrate that is rotating. A substrate holding unit configured to be rotatable around a vertical axis is provided with a holding surface to attract and hold a bottom surface of the substrate horizontally. A guide unit is formed integrally with the substrate holding unit, disposed around the substrate held in the substrate holding unit, and provided at a position equal to or lower than a height of a top surface of a periphery of the substrate. The guide unit includes a guide surface configured to guide the processing liquid. A rotary cup rotates integrally with the substrate holding unit, and guides the processing liquid towards the cup between the rotary cup and the guide unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2014
    Publication date: April 30, 2015
    Inventors: Jiro HIGASHIJIMA, Yuichi DOUKI, Masami AKIMOTO, Shigehisa INOUE
  • Patent number: 8408158
    Abstract: A coating/developing device includes a processing block having a plurality of coating unit blocks stacked and a developing unit block stacked on the coating unit blocks. Each of the unit blocks is provided with a liquid processing unit for coating a liquid chemical on a substrate, a heating unit for heating the substrate, a cooling unit for cooling the substrate and a transfer unit for transferring the substrate between the units. The liquid processing unit is provided with a coating unit for coating a resist liquid on the substrate, a first bottom antireflection coating (BARC) forming unit for coating a liquid chemical for a BARC on the substrate before the resist liquid is coated thereon, and a second BARC forming unit for coating a liquid chemical for the BARC on the substrate after the resist liquid is coated thereon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2013
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Masami Akimoto, Shinichi Hayashi, Yasushi Hayashida, Nobuaki Matsuoka, Yoshio Kimura, Issei Ueda, Hikaru Ito
  • Patent number: 8302556
    Abstract: Provided is a coating and developing apparatus composed of an assembly of plural unit blocks. A first unit-block stack and a second unit-block stack are arranged at different positions with respect to front-and-rear direction. Unit blocks for development, each of which comprises plural processing units including a developing unit that performs developing process after exposure and a transfer device that transfers a substrate among the processing units, are arranged at the lowermost level. Unit blocks for application, or coating, each of which comprises plural processing units including a coating unit that performs application process before exposure and a transfer device that transfers a substrate among the processing units, are arranged above the unit blocks for development. Unit blocks for application are arranged in both the first and second unit-block stacks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Masami Akimoto, Shinichi Hayashi, Yasushi Hayashida, Nobuaki Matsuoka, Yoshio Kimura, Issei Ueda, Hikaru Ito
  • Patent number: 7998308
    Abstract: A liquid processing apparatus includes a substrate holding member configured to rotate along with a substrate held thereon in a horizontal state; a rotary cup configured to surround the substrate and to rotate along with the substrate; a liquid supply mechanism configured to supply a process liquid onto at least a front surface of the substrate; and an exhaust/drain section configured to perform gas-exhausting and liquid-draining out of the rotary cup; and a guide member disposed to surround the substrate, having an upper surface to be substantially continued to the front surface of the substrate, and configured to rotate along with the substrate holding member and the rotary cup, such that a process liquid supplied onto the front surface of the substrate and thrown off from the substrate is guided by the upper surface of the guide member from the rotary cup to the exhaust/drain section.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Satoshi Kaneko, Kazuhisa Matsumoto, Norihiro Ito, Masami Akimoto, Takayuki Toshima, Hiromitsu Nanba
  • Publication number: 20100326353
    Abstract: Provided is a coating and developing apparatus composed of an assembly of plural unit blocks. A first unit-block stack and a second unit-block stack are arranged at different positions with respect to front-and-rear direction. Unit blocks for development, each of which comprises plural processing units including a developing unit that performs developing process after exposure and a transfer device that transfers a substrate among the processing units, are arranged at the lowermost level. Unit blocks for application, or coating, each of which comprises plural processing units including a coating unit that performs application process before exposure and a transfer device that transfers a substrate among the processing units, are arranged above the unit blocks for development. Unit blocks for application are arranged in both the first and second unit-block stacks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2010
    Publication date: December 30, 2010
    Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Masami AKIMOTO, Shinichi Hayashi, Yasushi Hayashida, Nobuaki Matsuoka, Yoshio Kimura, Issei Ueda, Hikaru Ito
  • Patent number: 7849864
    Abstract: A liquid processing system includes a liquid processing section including liquid processing units horizontally disposed therein and each configured to perform a liquid process while supplying a process liquid onto a substrate; a process liquid storing section that stores the process liquid to be supplied to the liquid processing units of the liquid processing section; and a piping unit including a supply pipe configured to guide the process liquid from the process liquid storing section to the liquid processing units. The process liquid storing section, the piping unit, and the liquid processing section are disposed inside a common casing in this order from below. The supply pipe of the piping unit has a horizontal pipe portion horizontally extending along an array direction of the liquid processing units, such that the process liquid is supplied from the horizontal pipe portion to the liquid processing units individually.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2010
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Kazuhisa Matsumoto, Satoshi Kaneko, Masami Akimoto, Takayuki Toshima, Norihiro Ito
  • Publication number: 20100300353
    Abstract: Provided is a coating and developing apparatus composed of an assembly of plural unit blocks. A first unit-block stack and a second unit-block stack are arranged at different positions with respect to front-and-rear direction. Unit blocks for development, each of which comprises plural processing units including a developing unit that performs developing process after exposure and a transfer device that transfers a substrate among the processing units, are arranged at the lowermost level. Unit blocks for application, or coating, each of which comprises plural processing units including a coating unit that performs application process before exposure and a transfer device that transfers a substrate among the processing units, are arranged above the unit blocks for development. Unit blocks for application are arranged in both the first and second unit-block stacks.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2010
    Publication date: December 2, 2010
    Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Masami AKIMOTO, Shinichi Hayashi, Yasushi Hayashida, Nobuaki Matsuoka, Yoshio Kimura, Issei Ueda, Hikaru Ito
  • Patent number: 7838801
    Abstract: A heating apparatus cooling a substrate heated by a hot plate at a cooling position adjacent to the hot plate, capable of achieving a smaller height and reducing an operation time in the apparatus, in which contamination of the substrate by particles or the like is less likely, and the like, are provided. The heating apparatus includes a hot plate for heating a wafer representing a substrate from below, in a heating chamber having a wafer load/unload port. In addition, a wire for transferring the wafer between a cooling position of the substrate adjacent to the load/unload port of the heating chamber (position above a cooling plate) and a position above the hot plate is provided and extends. The wafer is mounted on a gap forming member provided on the wire, and thereafter loaded into the heating chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2010
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Osamu Hirakawa, Masami Akimoto, Shinichi Hayashi
  • Patent number: 7797855
    Abstract: A heating apparatus 2 comprises a housing 20; a flat heating chamber 4 which is provided in the housing 2 and adapted to heat a wafer W used as a substrate, with one side of the heating chamber 4 opening for carrying in and carrying out the wafer; and a heating plates 44, 45 provided in the heating chamber 4 such that the wafer W can be heated from both above and below. A cooling plate 3 is provided in the housing 20 located in the vicinity of the opening of the heating chamber 4, for cooling the wafer W after being heated by the heating plates 44, 45. Additionally, a carrying means is provided in the housing 20 for carrying the wafer W between an upper position of the cooling plate 3 and the interior of the heating chamber 4 such that a heat treatment for the wafer W can be performed with the wafer W being held in the heating chamber 4.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2010
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Tetsuo Fukuoka, Masami Akimoto, Takahiro Kitano, Yoshio Kimura, Shinichi Hayashi, Hikaru Ito
  • Patent number: 7793609
    Abstract: Provided is a coating and developing apparatus composed of an assembly of plural unit blocks. A first unit-block stack and a second unit-block stack are arranged at different positions with respect to front-and-rear direction. Unit blocks for development, each of which comprises plural processing units including a developing unit that performs developing process after exposure and a transfer device that transfers a substrate among the processing units, are arranged at the lowermost level. Unit blocks for application, or coating, each of which comprises plural processing units including a coating unit that performs application process before exposure and a transfer device that transfers a substrate among the processing units, are arranged above the unit blocks for development. Unit blocks for application are arranged in both the first and second unit-block stacks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Masami Akimoto, Shinichi Hayashi, Yasushi Hayashida, Nobuaki Matsuoka, Yoshio Kimura, Issei Ueda, Hikaru Ito
  • Patent number: 7793610
    Abstract: A liquid processing apparatus includes: a substrate holding member configured to rotate along with a substrate held thereon in a horizontal state; a rotary cup configured to surround the substrate held on the substrate holding member and to rotate along with the substrate; a rotation mechanism configured to integratedly rotate the rotary cup and the substrate holding member; a liquid supply mechanism configured to supply a process liquid onto the substrate; and an exhaust/drain section configured to perform gas-exhausting and liquid-draining of the rotary cup. The exhaust/drain section includes an annular drain cup configured to mainly collect and discharge a process liquid thrown off from the substrate, and an exhaust cup surrounding the drain cup and configured to mainly collect and discharge a gas component from inside and around the rotary cup. Liquid-draining from the drain cup and gas-exhausting from the exhaust cup are performed independently of each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 14, 2010
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Masami Akimoto, Takayuki Toshima, Satoshi Kaneko, Kazuhisa Matsumoto, Norihiro Ito, Hiromitsu Nanba
  • Patent number: 7766566
    Abstract: In the present invention, a substrate transfer unit into/from which a substrate is transferred from/to the outside of a treatment container and a developing treatment unit in which development of the substrate is performed are arranged side by side in the treatment container, and a carrier mechanism is provided which carries the substrate while grasping an outside surface of the substrate from both sides, between the substrate transfer unit and the developing treatment unit. A developing solution supply nozzle for supplying a developing solution onto the substrate and a gas blow nozzle for blowing a gas to the substrate, are provided between the substrate transfer unit and the developing treatment unit and above a carriage path along which the substrate is carried, and a cleaning solution supply nozzle is provided in the developing treatment unit for supplying a cleaning solution onto the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2010
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Takahiro Kitano, Masami Akimoto, Shuuichi Nishikido, Dai Kumagai
  • Patent number: 7758340
    Abstract: A heating device provided with a cooling plate and a heating plate is formed in a low height, and floats a substrate above the cooling plate and the heating plate and moves the substrate horizontally between the cooling plate and the heating plate by the pressure of a gas. A heating device 2 includes a cooling plate 3 provided with flotation gas spouting ports 3a, and a heating plate provided with flotation gas spouting ports. The flotation gas spouting ports 3a and 3b are arranged along a wafer moving passage and are formed so as to spout the gas obliquely upward toward a first end of the wafer moving passage on the side of the cooling plate. A pushing member 51 is brought into contact with a back part of a wafer W with respect to a direction in which the wafer W is moved to move the wafer W in a direction toward the heating plate 6 opposite a direction in which the flotation gas is spouted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2006
    Date of Patent: July 20, 2010
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Masami Akimoto, Shinichi Hayashi, Naruaki Iida, Hiroaki Inadomi
  • Publication number: 20080023049
    Abstract: A liquid processing system includes a liquid processing section including liquid processing units horizontally disposed therein and each configured to perform a liquid process while supplying a process liquid onto a substrate; a process liquid storing section that stores the process liquid to be supplied to the liquid processing units of the liquid processing section; and a piping unit including a supply pipe configured to guide the process liquid from the process liquid storing section to the liquid processing units. The process liquid storing section, the piping unit, and the liquid processing section are disposed inside a common casing in this order from below. The supply pipe of the piping unit has a horizontal pipe portion horizontally extending along an array direction of the liquid processing units, such that the process liquid is supplied from the horizontal pipe portion to the liquid processing units individually.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2007
    Publication date: January 31, 2008
    Inventors: Kazuhisa Matsumoto, Satoshi Kaneko, Masami Akimoto, Takayuki Toshima, Norihiro Ito
  • Patent number: 7322756
    Abstract: A coating and developing apparatus comprises a process block which forms a resist film on a wafer, then transfers the wafer to an exposure apparatus, and performs a developing process on the wafer after exposure, and an interface transfer mechanism provided between the process block and the exposure apparatus. The process block includes unit blocks for coating-film formation and unit blocks for development laid out in a stacked manner. When an abnormality occurs in the interface transfer mechanism, an ordinary process in the unit block for coating-film formation is performed on those substrates which are present in that unit block for coating-film formation, after which processed wafers are retreated to a retaining unit and transfer of any wafer into the unit block for coating-film formation is inhibited.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2005
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2008
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Masami Akimoto, Shinichi Hayashi, Yasushi Hayashida, Nobuaki Matsuoka
  • Patent number: 7287920
    Abstract: A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes a transfer mechanism including a moving part for holding a substrate to be processed and moving along a longitudinal transferring passage and a plurality of processing units for performing respective processes on the substrate. The processing units are disposed along the transferring passage and the substrate is transferred between the processing units and the transfer mechanism. An exhaust chamber is provided under the processing units, the exhaust chamber having a gas exhaust opening at the side of the transferring passage, the exhaust chamber. Further, a suction exhaust line is connected to the exhaust chamber, and a guide member is provided inside the exhaust chamber or at a position facing the opening, wherein the guide member extends along the transferring passage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2007
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Shinichi Hayashi, Tsunenaga Nakashima, Suguru Enokida, Masami Akimoto, Nobuaki Matsuoka
  • Publication number: 20070240824
    Abstract: A liquid processing apparatus includes a substrate holding member configured to rotate along with a substrate held thereon in a horizontal state; a rotary cup configured to surround the substrate and to rotate along with the substrate; a liquid supply mechanism configured to supply a process liquid onto at least a front surface of the substrate; and an exhaust/drain section configured to perform gas-exhausting and liquid-draining out of the rotary cup; and a guide member disposed to surround the substrate, having an upper surface to be substantially continued to the front surface of the substrate, and configured to rotate along with the substrate holding member and the rotary cup, such that a process liquid supplied onto the front surface of the substrate and thrown off from the substrate is guided by the upper surface of the guide member from the rotary cup to the exhaust/drain section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2007
    Publication date: October 18, 2007
    Inventors: Satoshi Kaneko, Kazuhisa Matsumoto, Norihiro Ito, Masami Akimoto, Takayuki Toshima, Hiromitsu Nanba
  • Publication number: 20070240638
    Abstract: A liquid processing apparatus includes: a substrate holding member configured to rotate along with a substrate held thereon in a horizontal state; a rotary cup configured to surround the substrate held on the substrate holding member and to rotate along with the substrate; a rotation mechanism configured to integratedly rotate the rotary cup and the substrate holding member; a liquid supply mechanism configured to supply a process liquid onto the substrate; and an exhaust/drain section configured to perform gas-exhausting and liquid-draining of the rotary cup. The exhaust/drain section includes an annular drain cup configured to mainly collect and discharge a process liquid thrown off from the substrate, and an exhaust cup surrounding the drain cup and configured to mainly collect and discharge a gas component from inside and around the rotary cup. Liquid-draining from the drain cup and gas-exhausting from the exhaust cup are performed independently of each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2007
    Publication date: October 18, 2007
    Inventors: Masami Akimoto, Takayuki Toshima, Satoshi Kaneko, Kazuhisa Matsumoto, Norihiro Ito, Hiromitsu Nanba
  • Patent number: 7281869
    Abstract: A coating and developing system includes a resist film forming unit block and antireflection film forming unit blocks stacked up in layers to form a resist film and an antireflection film underlying the resist film and an antireflection film overlying the resist film in a small space. The coating and developing system can cope with a case where antireflection films are formed and a case where any antireflection film is not formed. Film forming unit blocks, namely, a TCT layer, a COT layer and a BCT layer, and developing unit blocks, namely, DEV layers, are stacked up in layers in a processing block. The TCT layer, the COT layer and the BCT layer are used selectively in the case where antireflection films are formed and where no antireflection film is formed. The coating and developing system is controlled by a simple carrying program.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2007
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Masami Akimoto, Shinichi Hayashi, Yasushi Hayashida, Nobuaki Matsuoka, Yoshio Kimura, Issei Ueda, Hikaru Ito