Patents by Inventor Mitsuaki Iwashita

Mitsuaki Iwashita 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: 10224202
    Abstract: A catalyst is imparted selectively to a plateable material portion 32 by performing a catalyst imparting processing on a substrate W having a non-plateable material portion 31 and the plateable material portion 32 formed on a surface thereof. Then, a hard mask layer 35 is formed selectively on the plateable material portion 32 by performing a plating processing on the substrate W. The non-plateable material portion 31 is made of SiO2 as a main component, and the plateable material portion 32 is made of a material including, as a main component, a material containing at least one of a OCHx group and a NHx group, a metal material containing Si as a main component, a material containing carbon as a main component or a catalyst metal material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Mitsuaki Iwashita, Takeshi Nagao, Nobutaka Mizutani, Takashi Tanaka, Koichi Yatsuda, Kazutoshi Iwai, Yuichiro Inatomi
  • Patent number: 10224208
    Abstract: An electroless plating process is performed on an Al layer, which is made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, with an electroless plating liquid which is alkaline and contains a complexing agent. A plating method includes preparing a substrate 10 having a surface (for example, bottom surface of TSV 12) at which an Al layer 22 made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy is exposed; forming a zincate film 30 on a surface of the Al layer by performing a zincate treatment on the substrate; and forming a first electroless plating layer (for example, Co barrier layer 14a) on the surface of the Al layer with an electroless plating liquid (for example, Co-based plating liquid) which is alkaline and contains a complexing agent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Nobutaka Mizutani, Mitsuaki Iwashita, Takashi Tanaka
  • Patent number: 10199240
    Abstract: A substrate processing method and apparatus which can remove an anti-drying liquid, which has entered a three-dimensional pattern with recessed portions formed in a substrate, in a relatively short time. The substrate processing method includes the steps of: carrying a substrate, having a three-dimensional pattern formed in a surface, into a processing container, said pattern being covered with an anti-drying liquid that has entered the recessed portions of the pattern; heating the substrate and supplying a pressurizing gas or a fluid in a high-pressure state into the processing container, thereby forming a high-pressure atmosphere in the processing container before the anti-drying liquid vaporizes to such an extent as to cause pattern collapse and bringing the anti-drying liquid into a high-pressure state while keeping the liquid in the recessed portions of the pattern; and thereafter discharging a fluid in a high-pressure state or a gaseous state from the processing container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignees: Toshiba Memory Corporation, Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Hidekazu Hayashi, Yohei Sato, Hisashi Okuchi, Hiroshi Tomita, Kazuyuki Mitsuoka, Mitsuaki Iwashita, Takehiko Orii, Gen You, Hiroki Ohno, Takayuki Toshima
  • Patent number: 10138556
    Abstract: A plating method can improve uniformity in a thickness of a plating layer formed on an inner surface of a recess. The plating method includes a loading process of loading the substrate in which the recess is formed into a casing; and a plating process of supplying a plating liquid to the substrate and forming a plating layer having a specific function on an inner surface of the recess. The plating process includes a first plating process of supplying a first plating liquid to the substrate and forming a first plating layer; and a second plating process of supplying a second plating liquid to the substrate and forming a second plating layer on the first plating layer after the first plating process. Further, a concentration of an additive contained in the first plating liquid is different from a concentration of an additive contained in the second plating liquid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2018
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Nobutaka Mizutani, Takashi Tanaka, Mitsuaki Iwashita
  • Patent number: 10030308
    Abstract: A plating method can improve adhesivity with an underlying layer. The plating method of performing a plating process on a substrate includes forming a first plating layer 23a serving as a barrier film on a substrate 2; baking the first plating layer 23a; forming a second plating layer 23b serving as a barrier film; and baking the second plating layer 23b. A plating layer stacked body 23 serving as a barrier film is formed of the first plating layer 23a and the second plating layer 23b.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2018
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Takashi Tanaka, Yuichiro Inatomi, Nobutaka Mizutani, Yusuke Saito, Mitsuaki Iwashita
  • Patent number: 9966306
    Abstract: A catalyst adsorbed on a surface of a substrate is bound to the substrate without leaving residues within a recess of the substrate. A catalyst layer forming method includes forming a catalyst layer 22 by supplying a catalyst solution 32 onto a substrate 2 having a recess 2a to adsorb the catalyst 22A onto a surface of the substrate and onto an inner surface of the recess; rinsing the surface of the substrate 2 and an inside of the recess 2a by supplying a rinse liquid; drying the surface of the substrate 2 and the inside of the recess 2a. Further, by supplying a binder solution 34 containing a binder 22B onto the substrate 2, the catalyst 22A on the surface of the substrate 2 is bound to the substrate 2 by the binder 22B.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2018
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Yuichiro Inatomi, Takashi Tanaka, Nobutaka Mizutani, Yusuke Saito, Kazutoshi Iwai, Mitsuaki Iwashita
  • Patent number: 9888585
    Abstract: Adhesion of an underlying diffusion barrier metal film and an electroless copper plating film with respect to an insulating film can be improved. A method for manufacturing a wiring structure includes a process of forming the underlying diffusion barrier metal film 5, including a base metal with respect to copper, on the insulating film 1; and a process of forming the electroless copper plating film 6 on the underlying diffusion barrier metal film 5 by performing an electroless copper displacement plating process with a copper displacement plating solution. The copper displacement plating solution is an acidic copper displacement plating solution of pH1 to pH4, in which copper ions are contained but a reducing agent for reducing the copper ions is not contained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignees: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED, A SCHOOL CORPORATION KANSAI UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Shoso Shinguhara, Kohei Ota, Mitsuaki Iwashita, Nobutaka Mizutani
  • Patent number: 9837308
    Abstract: A plating method can improve adhesivity with a substrate. The plating method of performing a plating process on the substrate includes forming a vacuum-deposited layer 2A on the substrate 2 by performing a vacuum deposition process on the substrate 2; forming an adhesion layer 21 and a catalyst adsorption layer 22 on the vacuum-deposited layer 2A of the substrate 2; and forming a plating layer stacked body 23 having a first plating layer 23a and a second plating layer 23b which function as a barrier film on the catalyst adsorption layer 22 of the substrate 2. By forming the vacuum-deposited layer 2A, a surface of the substrate 2 can be smoothened, so that the vacuum-deposited layer 2A serving as an underlying layer can improve the adhesivity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Nobutaka Mizutani, Takashi Tanaka, Yuichiro Inatomi, Yusuke Saito, Mitsuaki Iwashita
  • Publication number: 20170287713
    Abstract: A catalyst is imparted selectively to a plateable material portion 32 by performing a catalyst imparting processing on a substrate W having a non-plateable material portion 31 and the plateable material portion 32 formed on a surface thereof. Then, a hard mask layer 35 is formed selectively on the plateable material portion 32 by performing a plating processing on the substrate W. The non-plateable material portion 31 is made of SiO2 as a main component, and the plateable material portion 32 is made of a material including, as a main component, a material containing at least one of a OCHx group and a NHx group, a metal material containing Si as a main component, a material containing carbon as a main component or a catalyst metal material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2017
    Publication date: October 5, 2017
    Inventors: Mitsuaki Iwashita, Takeshi Nagao, Nobutaka Mizutani, Takashi Tanaka, Koichi Yatsuda, Kazutoshi Iwai, Yuichiro Inatomi
  • Patent number: 9777379
    Abstract: A plating apparatus can perform a plating process on an entire surface of a substrate uniformly. A plating apparatus 20 includes a substrate holding/rotating device 110 configured to hold and rotate a substrate 2; a discharging device 21 configured to discharge a plating liquid toward the substrate 2 held on the substrate holding/rotating device 110; and a controller 160 configured to control the substrate holding/rotating device 110 and the discharging device 21. Further, the discharging device 21 includes a first nozzle 40 having a multiple number of discharge openings 41 arranged in a radial direction of the substrate 2 or having a discharge opening 42 extended in the radial direction of the substrate 2; and a second nozzle 45 having a discharge opening 46 configured to be positioned closer to a central portion of the substrate 2 than the discharge opening of the first nozzle 40.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Yuichiro Inatomi, Takashi Tanaka, Mitsuaki Iwashita
  • Patent number: 9731322
    Abstract: A plating apparatus 1 can perform plating processes by supplying plating liquids onto a surface of a substrate 2. The plating apparatus 1 includes a substrate rotating holder configured to hold and rotate the substrate 2; plating liquid supply units 29 and 30 configured to supply different kinds of plating liquids onto the surface of the substrate 2; a plating liquid drain unit 31 configured to drain out the plating liquids dispersed from the substrate 2 depending on the kinds of the plating liquids; and a controller 32 configured to control the substrate rotating holder 25, the plating liquid supply units 29 and 30, the plating liquid drain unit 31. While the substrate 2 is held and rotated, the plating processes are performed on the surface of the substrate 2 in sequence by supplying the different kinds of the plating liquids onto the surface of the substrate 2.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2017
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Takashi Tanaka, Yusuke Saito, Mitsuaki Iwashita, Takayuki Toshima
  • Patent number: 9725810
    Abstract: A liquid displacement is performed by supplying a plating liquid onto a substrate 2 while rotating the substrate 2 at a first rotational speed in a state that a pre-treatment liquid remains on a surface of the substrate 2 (liquid displacement process (block S305)). Then, an initial film is formed on the substrate 2 by stopping the rotation of the substrate 2 or by rotating the substrate 2 at a second rotational speed while continuously supplying the plating liquid onto the substrate 2 (incubation process (block S306)). Thereafter, a plating film is grown by rotating the substrate 2 at a third rotational speed while continuously supplying the plating liquid onto the substrate 2 (plating film growing process (block S307)). Here, the first rotational speed is higher than the third rotational speed, and the third rotational speed is higher than the second rotational speed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Nobutaka Mizutani, Takashi Tanaka, Mitsuaki Iwashita
  • Patent number: 9711363
    Abstract: A plating method includes forming a catalyst layer 118 on a surface of a substrate including an inner surface of a recess 112; drying the substrate having the catalyst layer formed thereon such that an inside of the recess is dried as well; removing the catalyst layer at least on the surface of the substrate at the outside of the recess by supplying a processing liquid, which is configured to dissolve a material of the surface of the substrate, onto the surface of the substrate while rotating the dried substrate and while preventing or suppressing the processing liquid from being introduced into the dried inside of the recess; and forming a plating layer 119 on the inside of the recess, at which the catalyst layer is not removed, by an electroless plating process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Nobutaka Mizutani, Mitsuaki Iwashita, Takashi Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9650717
    Abstract: A pre-treatment method of plating and a plating system can perform a uniform plating process in which sufficient adhesivity on a surface of a substrate is obtained. The pre-treatment method of plating includes a coupling layer forming process of forming a titanium-based coupling layer 21b on the surface of the substrate with a titanium coupling agent; and a coupling layer modification process of modifying a surface of the titanium-based coupling layer 21b with a modifying liquid after the coupling layer forming process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Kazutoshi Iwai, Nobutaka Mizutani, Mitsuaki Iwashita
  • Patent number: 9653350
    Abstract: Catalytic metal nanoparticles can be attached on a base. A pre-treatment method for plating includes a catalytic particle-containing film forming process of forming a catalytic particle-containing film on a surface of a substrate by supplying, onto the substrate, a catalytic particle solution which is prepared by dispersing the catalytic metal nanoparticles and a dispersing agent in a solvent containing water; a first heating process of removing moisture contained at least in the catalytic particle-containing film by heating the substrate to a first temperature; and a second heating process of polymerizing the dispersing agent to have a sheet shape by heating the substrate to a second temperature higher than the first temperature after the first heating process and fixing the catalytic metal nanoparticles on a base layer by covering the catalytic metal nanoparticles with the sheet-shaped dispersing agent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Takashi Tanaka, Nobutaka Mizutani, Yusuke Saito, Mitsuaki Iwashita
  • Patent number: 9653354
    Abstract: A metal wiring layer can be formed within a recess of a substrate while suppressing the metal wiring layer from being formed at the outside of the recess. A metal wiring layer forming method includes forming a catalyst layer 5 formed of Pd on a tungsten layer W on a bottom surface 3a of the recess 3 of the substrate 2 without forming the catalyst layer 5 on a surface 3b of an insulating layer of the recess 3; and forming a Ni-based metal wiring layer 7 on the catalyst layer 5 of the recess 3.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 16, 2017
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Takashi Tanaka, Nobutaka Mizutani, Mitsuaki Iwashita
  • Publication number: 20170121822
    Abstract: A plating apparatus can suppress a time period during which a plating liquid is used in a plating from being reduced. In the plating apparatus 1, after a plating liquid supply unit 53 supplies, to a substrate W1, a plating liquid which exerts a preset plating performance within a preset concentration range and which has an initial temperature adjusted to be lower than a preset plating temperature; and an initial concentration adjusted such that a concentration of the plating liquid at a moment when a temperature of the plating liquid has reached the preset plating temperature is equal to or higher than a lower limit of the preset concentration range and equal to or below a median value of the preset concentration range, a plating liquid heating unit 63 heats the plating liquid supplied to the substrate W1 to the preset plating temperature.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2016
    Publication date: May 4, 2017
    Inventors: Nobutaka Mizutani, Mitsuaki Iwashita, Yuichiro Inatomi
  • Publication number: 20170084480
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus can remove, from a substrate having a copper wiring formed by a dry etching process using an organic etching gas, e.g., one or more kinds of organic etching gases selected from a methane gas, a CF-based gas, a carboxylic acid-based gas containing a methyl group and an alcohol-based gas, an organic polymer which is originated from the organic etching gas and generated in the dry etching process and adheres to a surface of the substrate. In a substrate processing apparatus 1, a first processing unit 4 includes a first cleaning liquid supply unit 43a configured to supply a first cleaning liquid L1 selected from a chemical liquid containing hydrogen peroxide and a chemical liquid containing a polar organic solvent, and the first cleaning liquid L1 is supplied onto a substrate W1 from the first cleaning liquid supply unit 43a.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2016
    Publication date: March 23, 2017
    Inventors: Nobutaka Mizutani, Mitsuaki Iwashita, Takashi Tanaka
  • Patent number: 9583330
    Abstract: A supercritical drying method for a semiconductor substrate is disclosed. The method may include introducing the semiconductor substrate into a chamber in a state, a surface of the semiconductor substrate being wet with alcohol, substituting the alcohol on the semiconductor substrate with a supercritical fluid of carbon dioxide by impregnating the semiconductor substrate to the supercritical fluid in the chamber, and discharging the supercritical fluid and the alcohol from the chamber and reducing a pressure inside the chamber. The method may also include performing a baking treatment by supplying an oxygen gas or an ozone gas to the chamber after the reduction of the pressure inside the chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2017
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Linan Ji, Hidekazu Hayashi, Hiroshi Tomita, Hisashi Okuchi, Yohei Sato, Takayuki Toshima, Mitsuaki Iwashita, Kazuyuki Mitsuoka, Gen You, Hiroki Ohno, Takehiko Orii
  • Patent number: 9552994
    Abstract: A plating apparatus 20 includes a substrate holding device 110 configured to hold and rotate the substrate 2; a first discharge device 30 configured to discharge a plating liquid toward the substrate 2 held on the substrate holding device 110; and a top plate 21 that is provided above the substrate 2 and has an opening 22. The first discharge device 30 includes a first discharge unit 33 configured to discharge the plating liquid toward the substrate 2, and the first discharge unit 33 is configured to be moved between a discharge position where the plating liquid is discharged and a standby position where the plating liquid is not discharged. Further, the first discharge unit 33 is configured to be overlapped with the opening 22 of the top plate 21 at the discharge position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Yuichiro Inatomi, Takashi Tanaka, Nobutaka Mizutani, Yusuke Saito, Mitsuaki Iwashita