Patents by Inventor Masayuki OTSUJI

Masayuki OTSUJI 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: 11851745
    Abstract: A pre-drying processing liquid containing a sublimable substance that changes to gas without passing through to a liquid and a solvent in which the sublimable substance dissolves is supplied to a front surface of a substrate on which a pattern has been formed. Thereafter, the solvent is evaporated from the pre-drying processing liquid on the front surface of the substrate to thereby form a solidified body containing the sublimable substance on the front surface of the substrate. Thereafter, the solidified body is sublimated and thereby removed from the front surface of the substrate. A value acquired by multiplying a ratio of the thickness of the solidified body to the height of the pattern by 100 is greater than 76 and less than 219.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Inventors: Yuta Sasaki, Masayuki Otsuji, Naozumi Fujiwara, Masahiko Kato, Yu Yamaguchi, Hiroaki Takahashi
  • Patent number: 11769663
    Abstract: To dry a substrate formed with a pattern on a front surface satisfactorily and with excellent drying performance, a substrate processing method comprises: a liquid film formation step of forming a liquid film of a processing liquid, in which cyclohexanone oxime is dissolved in a solvent, on a front surface of a substrate formed with a pattern by supplying the processing liquid to the front surface of the substrate; a solidified film formation step of forming a solidified film of the cyclohexanone oxime by solidifying the liquid film of the processing liquid; and a sublimation step of removing the solidified film from the front surface of the substrate by sublimating the solidified film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Inventors: Masayuki Otsuji, Hiroaki Takahashi, Masahiko Kato, Yu Yamaguchi, Yuta Sasaki
  • Publication number: 20230272973
    Abstract: In the present invention, a substrate processing liquid includes an auxiliary agent which is added to a solution in which a sublimable substance is dissolved in a solvent, to thereby disperse particles of the sublimable substance, the amount of which exceeds the solubility, in the solution. In the substrate processing liquid, the particles of the sublimable substance, the amount of which exceeds the solubility, are uniformly dispersed and dissolved in the solvent. Therefore, the amount of sublimable substance to be supplied onto a pattern formation surface of a substrate is larger than that in the conventional technique and a large amount of sublimable substance (solid phase) exists inside a pattern. As a result, it is possible to effectively suppress the solvent from remaining between the patterns and perform sublimation drying in a state where the patterns are firmly held by the sublimable substance (solid phase).
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2023
    Publication date: August 31, 2023
    Inventors: Tomoya TANAKA, Masayuki OTSUJI, Takayoshi TANAKA
  • Publication number: 20230205178
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate holder, a processing liquid supply section, an input information acquiring section, a sublimation drying process condition information acquiring section, and a controller. The input information acquiring section acquires input information including at least one of substrate information and processing liquid information. The sublimation drying process condition information acquiring section acquires, from a trained model based on the input information, sublimation drying process condition information indicating a sublimation drying process condition on a processing target substrate. The controller controls the substrate holder and the processing liquid supply section to perform a sublimation drying process on the process target substrate based on the sublimation drying process condition acquired in the sublimation drying process condition information acquiring section.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2021
    Publication date: June 29, 2023
    Inventors: Masaki INABA, Masayuki OTSUJI, Ayumi HIGUCHI
  • Publication number: 20220351967
    Abstract: To dry a substrate formed with a pattern on a front surface satisfactorily and with excellent drying performance, a substrate processing method comprises: a liquid film formation step of forming a liquid film of a processing liquid, in which cyclohexanone oxime is dissolved in a solvent, on a front surface of a substrate formed with a pattern by supplying the processing liquid to the front surface of the substrate; a solidified film formation step of forming a solidified film of the cyclohexanone oxime by solidifying the liquid film of the processing liquid; and a sublimation step of removing the solidified film from the front surface of the substrate by sublimating the solidified film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2022
    Publication date: November 3, 2022
    Inventors: Masayuki OTSUJI, Hiroaki TAKAHASHI, Masahiko KATO, Yu YAMAGUCHI, Yuta SASAKI
  • Patent number: 11443960
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus includes a substrate holding unit that holds a substrate horizontally while rotating the substrate around a vertical rotational axis running through its center portion, an opposed member having an opposed surface that is opposed to an upper surface of the substrate, and a processing liquid discharge unit that includes a center portion discharge port on the opposed surface, that opens being opposed to the upper surface center portion of the substrate, and a peripheral portion discharge port on the opposed surface, that opens being opposed to the upper surface peripheral portion of the substrate, that discharges a processing liquid from the center portion discharge port to supply the processing liquid between the substrate and the opposed surface, and discharges the processing liquid from the peripheral portion discharge port to replenish the processing liquid between the substrate and the opposed surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Inventor: Masayuki Otsuji
  • Publication number: 20220262622
    Abstract: The collapsed pattern recovering method is a method for recovering a collapsed pattern which is a pattern formed on a front surface of a substrate, and the method includes a reactive gas supplying step which supplies to the front surface of the substrate a reactive gas that can react with a product existing on the front surface. The reactive gas supplying step includes a hydrogen fluoride vapor supplying step which supplies vapor that contains hydrogen fluoride to the front surface of the substrate. The collapsed pattern recovering method further includes a substrate heating step which heats the substrate in parallel with the hydrogen fluoride vapor supplying step.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2022
    Publication date: August 18, 2022
    Inventor: Masayuki OTSUJI
  • Patent number: 11417513
    Abstract: To dry a substrate formed with a pattern on a front surface satisfactorily and with excellent drying performance, a substrate processing method comprises: a liquid film formation step of forming a liquid film of a processing liquid, in which cyclohexanone oxime is dissolved in a solvent, on a front surface of a substrate formed with a pattern by supplying the processing liquid to the front surface of the substrate; a solidified film formation step of forming a solidified film of the cyclohexanone oxime by solidifying the liquid film of the processing liquid; and a sublimation step of removing the solidified film from the front surface of the substrate by sublimating the solidified film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Inventors: Masayuki Otsuji, Hiroaki Takahashi, Masahiko Kato, Yu Yamaguchi, Yuta Sasaki
  • Publication number: 20220238327
    Abstract: A sublimable substance is selected on the basis of whether the surface of a pattern is hydrophilic or hydrophobic. In cases where the surface of a pattern is hydrophilic, a solvent for hydrophilic cases is selected, said solvent having lower solubility in water than the selected sublimable substance; and in cases where the surface of a pattern is hydrophobic, a solvent for hydrophobic cases is selected, said solvent having lower solubility in oils than the selected sublimable substance. The selected sublimable substance is dissolved in the selected solvent.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2020
    Publication date: July 28, 2022
    Inventors: Masayuki OTSUJI, Naozumi FUJIWARA, Yuta SASAKI
  • Patent number: 11373860
    Abstract: The collapsed pattern recovering method is a method for recovering a collapsed pattern which is a pattern formed on a front surface of a substrate, and the method includes a reactive gas supplying step which supplies to the front surface of the substrate a reactive gas that can react with a product existing on the front surface. The reactive gas supplying step includes a hydrogen fluoride vapor supplying step which supplies vapor that contains hydrogen fluoride to the front surface of the substrate. The collapsed pattern recovering method further includes a substrate heating step which heats the substrate in parallel with the hydrogen fluoride vapor supplying step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Inventor: Masayuki Otsuji
  • Publication number: 20220189762
    Abstract: A substrate processing method includes a processing liquid film forming step of supplying a processing liquid, containing a sublimable substance, to a pattern forming surface of a substrate, to form a processing liquid film on the pattern forming surface, a temperature maintaining step of maintaining a temperature of the processing liquid film, formed on the pattern forming surface, in a temperature range not lower than a melting point of the sublimable substance and lower than a boiling point of the sublimable substance, a film thinning step of thinning the processing liquid film while the temperature of the processing liquid film is in the temperature range, a freezing step of making the processing liquid film, thinned by the film thinning step, freeze on the pattern forming surface after the temperature maintaining step to form a frozen body of the sublimable substance, and a sublimating step of sublimating the frozen body to remove the frozen body from the pattern forming surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 4, 2022
    Publication date: June 16, 2022
    Inventors: Manabu OKUTANI, Hiroaki TAKAHASHI, Masayuki OTSUJI, Hiroshi ABE, Chikara MAEDA, Hitoshi NAKAI, Yuta SASAKI
  • Patent number: 11328925
    Abstract: An upper surface of a substrate is supplied with a pre-drying processing liquid which is a solution of a sublimable substance and a solvent. Thereafter, the solvent is evaporated from the pre-drying processing liquid on the substrate and a solid of the sublimable substance is precipitated in the pre-drying processing liquid on the substrate. Thereafter, at least a portion of the solid of the sublimable substance is dissolved in the pre-drying processing liquid on the substrate. Thereafter, the solvent is evaporated from the pre-drying processing liquid in which the solid of the sublimable substance has been dissolved and the solid of the sublimable substance is precipitated onto the substrate. Thereafter, the solid of the sublimable substance is sublimated and removed from the upper surface of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2022
    Inventors: Yuta Sasaki, Hiroaki Takahashi, Masayuki Otsuji
  • Patent number: 11302525
    Abstract: A substrate processing method includes a processing liquid film forming step of supplying a processing liquid, containing a sublimable substance, to a pattern forming surface of a substrate, to form a processing liquid film on the pattern forming surface, a temperature maintaining step of maintaining a temperature of the processing liquid film, formed on the pattern forming surface, in a temperature range not lower than a melting point of the sublimable substance and lower than a boiling point of the sublimable substance, a film thinning step of thinning the processing liquid film while the temperature of the processing liquid film is in the temperature range, a freezing step of making the processing liquid film, thinned by the film thinning step, freeze on the pattern forming surface after the temperature maintaining step to form a frozen body of the sublimable substance, and a sublimating step of sublimating the frozen body to remove the frozen body from the pattern forming surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Inventors: Manabu Okutani, Hiroaki Takahashi, Masayuki Otsuji, Hiroshi Abe, Chikara Maeda, Hitoshi Nakai, Yuta Sasaki
  • Patent number: 11201067
    Abstract: A substrate processing method including a vapor atmosphere filling step in which a vapor atmosphere which contains vapor of a low surface tension liquid whose lower surface tension than a processing liquid is filled around a liquid film of the processing liquid, a thin film region forming step in which, in parallel with the vapor atmosphere filling step, a substrate is rotated at a predetermined thin film region forming speed, to partially remove the processing liquid, thereby forming a thin film region on the liquid film of the processing liquid, a thin film region expanding step in which, in parallel with the vapor atmosphere filling step, the thin film region is expanded to an outer circumference of the substrate, and a thin film removing step in which the thin film is removed from the upper surface after the thin film region expanding step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Inventor: Masayuki Otsuji
  • Publication number: 20210331192
    Abstract: A substrate processing method includes a first processing liquid supplying step of supplying a first processing liquid to an upper surface of the substrate, a holding layer forming step of solidifying or curing the first processing liquid to form a particle holding layer on the upper surface of the substrate, a holding layer removing step of peeling and removing the particle holding layer from the upper surface of the substrate, a liquid film forming step of forming, after removing the particle holding layer from the substrate, a liquid film of the second processing liquid, a solidifying step of cooling the liquid film to a temperature not more than a melting point of the sublimable substance to make the liquid film solidify on the substrate and form a solid film, and a sublimating step of sublimating and thereby removing the solid film from the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2021
    Publication date: October 28, 2021
    Inventors: Yukifumi YOSHIDA, Hiroaki TAKAHASHI, Masayuki OTSUJI, Manabu OKUTANI, Chikara MAEDA, Hiroshi ABE, Shuichi YASUDA, Yasunori KANEMATSU
  • Patent number: 11154913
    Abstract: A substrate processing method includes a vapor atmosphere filling step of filling surroundings of a liquid film of a processing liquid with a vapor atmosphere containing a vapor of a low surface tension liquid that has a lower surface tension than the processing liquid, a dry region forming step of forming a dry region in the liquid film of the processing liquid by partially excluding the processing liquid while spraying a gas containing the vapor of the low surface tension liquid onto the liquid film of the processing liquid in parallel with the vapor atmosphere filling step, and a dry region expanding step of expanding the dry region toward an outer periphery of a substrate while rotating the substrate in parallel with the vapor atmosphere filling step.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Inventor: Masayuki Otsuji
  • Publication number: 20210324509
    Abstract: A pre-drying processing liquid containing a sublimable substance that changes to gas without passing through to a liquid and a solvent in which the sublimable substance dissolves is supplied to a front surface of a substrate on which a pattern has been formed. Thereafter, the solvent is evaporated from the pre-drying processing liquid on the front surface of the substrate to thereby form a solidified body containing the sublimable substance on the front surface of the substrate. Thereafter, the solidified body is sublimated and thereby removed from the front surface of the substrate. A value acquired by multiplying a ratio of the thickness of the solidified body to the height of the pattern by 100 is greater than 76 and less than 219.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2021
    Publication date: October 21, 2021
    Inventors: Yuta SASAKI, Masayuki OTSUJI, Naozumi FUJIWARA, Masahiko KATO, Yu YAMAGUCHI, Hiroaki TAKAHASHI
  • Patent number: 11124869
    Abstract: A pre-drying processing liquid containing a sublimable substance that changes to gas without passing through to a liquid and a solvent in which the sublimable substance dissolves is supplied to a front surface of a substrate on which a pattern has been formed. Thereafter, the solvent is evaporated from the pre-drying processing liquid on the front surface of the substrate to thereby form a solidified body containing the sublimable substance on the front surface of the substrate. Thereafter, the solidified body is sublimated and thereby removed from the front surface of the substrate. A value acquired by multiplying a ratio of the thickness of the solidified body to the height of the pattern by 100 is greater than 76 and less than 219.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Inventors: Yuta Sasaki, Masayuki Otsuji, Naozumi Fujiwara, Masahiko Kato, Yu Yamaguchi, Hiroaki Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20210280410
    Abstract: The collapsed pattern recovering method is a method for recovering a collapsed pattern which is a pattern formed on a front surface of a substrate, and the method includes a reactive gas supplying step which supplies to the front surface of the substrate a reactive gas that can react with a product existing on the front surface. The reactive gas supplying step includes a hydrogen fluoride vapor supplying step which supplies vapor that contains hydrogen fluoride to the front surface of the substrate. The collapsed pattern recovering method further includes a substrate heating step which heats the substrate in parallel with the hydrogen fluoride vapor supplying step.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2017
    Publication date: September 9, 2021
    Inventor: Masayuki OTSUJI
  • Patent number: 11101147
    Abstract: A substrate processing method includes a first processing liquid supplying step of supplying a first processing liquid to an upper surface of the substrate, a holding layer forming step of solidifying or curing the first processing liquid to form a particle holding layer on the upper surface of the substrate, a holding layer removing step of peeling and removing the particle holding layer from the upper surface of the substrate, a liquid film forming step of forming, after removing the particle holding layer from the substrate, a liquid film of the second processing liquid, a solidifying step of cooling the liquid film to a temperature not more than a melting point of the sublimable substance to make the liquid film solidify on the substrate and form a solid film, and a sublimating step of sublimating and thereby removing the solid film from the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Inventors: Yukifumi Yoshida, Hiroaki Takahashi, Masayuki Otsuji, Manabu Okutani, Chikara Maeda, Hiroshi Abe, Shuichi Yasuda, Yasunori Kanematsu