Patents by Inventor Mitsuo Natsume
Mitsuo Natsume 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).
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Publication number: 20190145641Abstract: There is provided a method for manufacturing semiconductor. The method includes providing a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and providing an EFEM. The EFEM includes a shield gas curtain apparatus 6 that forms a gas curtain capable of shielding an opening 23 when an internal space 5S of a purge container 5, in which the humidity is reduced to a predetermined value by means of a bottom purge apparatus 25 provided in a load port 2, is brought into communication with an internal space 3S of a wafer transport chamber 3, the gas curtain being formed of a shield curtain gas blown immediately downward from a location near the opening 23 of the load port 2 and being closer to the wafer transport chamber 3 than the opening 23 at a higher height than an upper edge of the opening 23.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 10, 2019Publication date: May 16, 2019Applicant: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Yasushi Taniyama, Mitsutoshi Ochiai, Mitsuo Natsume, Atsushi Suzuki
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Patent number: 9916997Abstract: There is provided an end structure of a nozzle (11) including a gas-flow passage (13) communicable with an opening (104) provided through a bottom of a container (100) configured to contain an object, the nozzle (11) configured so that gas is injected into or discharged from the container (100) through the gas-flow passage (13) and the opening (104). The end structure includes a contact portion (19) provided at an upper end portion of the nozzle (11) and around the gas-flow passage (13), and the contact portion (19) is configured to be brought into contact with a contacted portion (103) provided around the opening (104). The contact portion (19) includes a flat portion (19b) and protruding portions (19a and 19c) each protruding upward relative to the flat portion (19b), and the flat portion (19b) is made of material softer than that of the protruding portions (19a and 19c).Type: GrantFiled: March 17, 2016Date of Patent: March 13, 2018Assignee: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Toshimitsu Morihana, Yuki Matsumoto, Mitsuo Natsume
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Patent number: 9704727Abstract: An EFEM includes a housing 3 that constitutes a wafer transport chamber 9 that is substantially closed by connecting load ports 4 to an opening 31a provided on a wall 31, and connecting a processing apparatus 6; a wafer transport apparatus 2, and transports a wafer between the processing apparatus 6 and the FOUPs 7 mounted on the load ports 4; a gas delivery port 11; a gas suction port 12; a gas feedback path 10; and a FFU 13 that includes a filter 13b that is provided in the gas delivery port 11, and eliminates particles contained in the delivered gas, wherein the gas in the wafer transport chamber 9 is circulated by generating a downward gasflow in the wafer transport chamber 9 and feeding back the gas through the gas feedback path 10.Type: GrantFiled: December 12, 2014Date of Patent: July 11, 2017Assignee: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Mikio Segawa, Yasushi Taniyama, Mitsuo Natsume, Atsushi Suzuki, Toshihiro Kawai, Kunihiko Sato
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Patent number: 9685359Abstract: A load port device comprises a link mechanism that has a main moving link whose one end is connected with a door holding member in a rotatable manner, a guide that bends and extends from a horizontal direction to a vertical direction and that guides one end of the main moving link, a main moving block with which the other end of the main moving link is connected in a rotatable manner and a door hoisting shaft that extends in the vertical direction and that moves the main moving block in the extending direction. The link mechanism allows the end of the main moving link to move from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction or from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction along the guide in a state that the other end of the main moving link moves to the vertical direction.Type: GrantFiled: March 6, 2014Date of Patent: June 20, 2017Assignee: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Manabu Funato, Mitsuo Natsume, Mitsutoshi Ochiai
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Publication number: 20160276188Abstract: There is provided an end structure of a nozzle 11 including a gas-flow passage 13 communicable with an opening 104 provided through a bottom of a container 100 configured to contain an object, the nozzle 11 configured so that gas is injected into or discharged from the container 100 through the gas-flow passage 13 and the opening 104. The end structure includes a contact portion 19 provided at an upper end portion of the nozzle 11 and around the gas-flow passage 13, and the contact portion 19 is configured to be brought into contact with a contacted portion 103 provided around the opening 104. The contact portion 19 includes a flat portion 19b and protruding portions 19a and 19c each protruding upward relative to the flat portion 19b, and the flat portion 19b is made of material softer than that of the protruding portions 19a and 19c.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 17, 2016Publication date: September 22, 2016Applicant: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Toshimitsu MORIHANA, Yuki MATSUMOTO, Mitsuo NATSUME
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Patent number: 9412634Abstract: The present invention provides an atmosphere replacement apparatus capable of replacing the atmosphere on the surface of a wafer with a small amount of gas. The apparatus is configured to have a cover capable of facing and covering the wafer to be transported, and a gas supply means that supplies gas having properties different from a surrounding atmosphere from the cover, and replaces the atmosphere on the surface of the wafer by the gas.Type: GrantFiled: November 10, 2014Date of Patent: August 9, 2016Assignee: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Mikio Segawa, Yasushi Taniyama, Shin Kawahisa, Mitsuo Natsume
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Patent number: 9239228Abstract: The left-right span between a light projection section 5a and a light receiving section 5b of a mapping sensor 5 having an optical axis L1 extending in a left-right horizontal direction is arranged to be narrower than the span of a front opening of a open cassette 12 which is a smaller one of differently-sized containers conveyed to a load port, and the mapping sensor is attached to a mapping device 4. A first protrusion sensor 6 having an optical axis L2 extending in the left-right horizontal direction is attached to the mapping device 4 to be separated from the mapping sensor 5 in a moving direction of the mapping sensor 5. Furthermore, a second protrusion sensor 7 having an optical axis extending in the up-down moving direction of the mapping sensor 5 is provided.Type: GrantFiled: April 17, 2015Date of Patent: January 19, 2016Assignee: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Mitsuo Natsume, Masahiro Osawa, Toshimitsu Morihana, Mitsutoshi Ochiai
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Patent number: 9174253Abstract: A purge nozzle unit 1 includes a nozzle main body 2 including a trunk 41 and a collar section 8 protruding outward from the trunk 41 and a holder 3 including a side wall 31 that is in slidable contact with an outward face of the collar section 8 and a bottom wall 33 having a through hole 32 with which an outward face of the trunk 41 is in slidable contact and is configured such that a vent 30 in communication with the outside is formed in the holder 3 and the nozzle main body 2 is vertically moved relative to the holder 3 by regulating a pressure in a pressure-regulated space S formed between the nozzle main body 2 and the holder 3 and in communication with the vent 30.Type: GrantFiled: February 8, 2013Date of Patent: November 3, 2015Assignee: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Mitsuo Natsume, Atsushi Suzuki
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Publication number: 20150308812Abstract: The left-right span between a light projection section 5a and a light receiving section 5b of a mapping sensor 5 having an optical axis L1 extending in a left-right horizontal direction is arranged to be narrower than the span of a front opening of a open cassette 12 which is a smaller one of differently-sized containers conveyed to a load port, and the mapping sensor is attached to a mapping device 4. A first protrusion sensor 6 having an optical axis L2 extending in the left-right horizontal direction is attached to the mapping device 4 to be separated from the mapping sensor 5 in a moving direction of the mapping sensor 5. Furthermore, a second protrusion sensor 7 having an optical axis extending in the up-down moving direction of the mapping sensor 5 is provided.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 17, 2015Publication date: October 29, 2015Applicant: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Mitsuo NATSUME, Masahiro Osawa, Toshimitsu Morihana, Mitsutoshi Ochiai
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Publication number: 20150170945Abstract: An EFEM includes a housing 3 that constitutes a wafer transport chamber 9 that is substantially closed by connecting load ports 4 to an opening 31a provided on a wall 31, and connecting a processing apparatus 6; a wafer transport apparatus 2, and transports a wafer between the processing apparatus 6 and the FOUPs 7 mounted on the load ports 4; a gas delivery port 11; a gas suction port 12; a gas feedback path 10; and a FFU 13 that includes a filter 13b that is provided in the gas delivery port 11, and eliminates particles contained in the delivered gas, wherein the gas in the wafer transport chamber 9 is circulated by generating a downward gasflow in the wafer transport chamber 9 and feeding back the gas through the gas feedback path 10.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 12, 2014Publication date: June 18, 2015Applicant: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Mikio Segawa, Yasushi Taniyama, Mitsuo Natsume, Atsushi Suzuki, Toshihiro Kawai, Kunihiko Sato
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Publication number: 20150128441Abstract: The present invention provides an atmosphere replacement apparatus capable of replacing the atmosphere on the surface of a wafer with a small amount of gas. The apparatus is configured to have a cover capable of facing and covering the wafer to be transported, and a gas supply means that supplies gas having properties different from a surrounding atmosphere from the cover, and replaces the atmosphere on the surface of the wafer by the gas.Type: ApplicationFiled: November 10, 2014Publication date: May 14, 2015Applicant: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Mikio Segawa, Yasushi Taniyama, Shin Kawahisa, Mitsuo Natsume
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Publication number: 20150024671Abstract: There is provided an EFEM that includes a shield gas curtain apparatus 6 that forms a gas curtain capable of shielding an opening 23 when an internal space 5S of a purge container 5, in which the humidity is reduced to a predetermined value by means of a bottom purge apparatus 25 provided in a load port 2, is brought into communication with an internal space 3S of a wafer transport chamber 3, the gas curtain being formed of a shield curtain gas blown immediately downward from a location near the opening 23 of the load port 2 and being closer to the wafer transport chamber 3 than the opening 23 at a higher height than an upper edge of the opening 23. The EFEM thus configured can prevent and suppress a rapid increase in the humidity in the purge container, in which the humidity in the interior space is reduced by performing the bottom purging, occurring immediately after a lid of the purge container is opened, so that quality degradation due to the moisture adhered on a wafer can be avoided.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 5, 2014Publication date: January 22, 2015Applicant: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Yasushi Taniyama, Mitsutoshi Ochiai, Mitsuo Natsume, Atsushi Suzuki
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Publication number: 20140338288Abstract: A load port device comprises a link mechanism that has a main moving link whose one end is connected with a door holding member in a rotatable manner, a guide that bends and extends from a horizontal direction to a vertical direction and that guides one end of the main moving link, a main moving block with which the other end of the main moving link is connected in a rotatable manner and a door hoisting shaft that extends in the vertical direction and that moves the main moving block in the extending direction. The link mechanism allows the end of the main moving link to move from the horizontal direction to the vertical direction or from the vertical direction to the horizontal direction along the guide in a state that the other end of the main moving link moves to the vertical direction.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 6, 2014Publication date: November 20, 2014Applicant: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Manabu Funato, Mitsuo Natsume, Mitsutoshi Ochiai
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Patent number: 8821098Abstract: A load port is disclosed which allows a wafer to be transferred between the inside of a FOUP and the inside of a semiconductor fabrication apparatus even during a purge operation. The load port is provided adjacent the semiconductor fabrication apparatus in a clean room and includes a purge stage having a purge port through which a gas atmosphere in the FOUP is replaced into nitrogen gas or dry air, an opener stage provided in a juxtaposed relationship with the purge stage and having an opening communicating with the inside of the semiconductor fabrication apparatus and a door section capable of opening and closing the opening, and a moving mechanism for moving the FOUP between the purge stage and the opener stage.Type: GrantFiled: December 1, 2009Date of Patent: September 2, 2014Assignee: Sinfonia Technology Co., Ltd.Inventors: Mitsuo Natsume, Shin Kawahisa, Takumi Mizokawa
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Publication number: 20130326841Abstract: A purge nozzle unit 1 includes a nozzle main body 2 including a trunk 41 and a collar section 8 protruding outward from the trunk 41 and a holder 3 including a side wall 31 that is in slidable contact with an outward face of the collar section 8 and a bottom wall 33 having a through hole 32 with which an outward face of the trunk 41 is in slidable contact and is configured such that a vent 30 in communication with the outside is formed in the holder 3 and the nozzle main body 2 is vertically moved relative to the holder 3 by regulating a pressure in a pressure-regulated space S formed between the nozzle main body 2 and the holder 3 and in communication with the vent 30.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 8, 2013Publication date: December 12, 2013Applicant: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Mitsuo Natsume, Atsushi Suzuki
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Patent number: 8596312Abstract: Disclosed herein is an apparatus including: a table configured to receive a container that stores an object therein, the container including a bottom surface provided with a positioning groove and including a charging inlet through which a gas is charged into the container; a positioning pin projecting from the table and adapted to engage with the positioning groove of the container; a nozzle configured to charge the gas into the container through the charging inlet; and a drive unit configured to move the nozzle into contact with the charging inlet of the container after the positioning pin is engaged with the positioning groove.Type: GrantFiled: March 2, 2011Date of Patent: December 3, 2013Assignee: Sinfonia Technology Co., Ltd.Inventors: Mitsuo Natsume, Mitsutoshi Ochiai, Takumi Mizokawa
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Patent number: 8444125Abstract: An attaching apparatus for attaching a load port apparatus to an attaching face of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes a bogie truck body to be attached to a lower end portion of the load port apparatus. A pair of downwardly projecting positioning protrusions having a circular transverse sectional shape are also attached to the lower end portion of the load port apparatus. A support plate is secured to a lower end portion of the attaching face in such a manner as to project toward the load port apparatus. A pair of positioning recesses are formed on an upper face of the support plate and each has a circular hollow shape, in a plan view, such that said plurality of positioning protrusions may be individually fitted therein.Type: GrantFiled: January 19, 2010Date of Patent: May 21, 2013Assignee: Sinfonia Technology Co., Ltd.Inventor: Mitsuo Natsume
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Publication number: 20110214778Abstract: Disclosed herein is an apparatus including: a table configured to receive a container that stores an object therein, the container including a bottom surface provided with a positioning groove and including a charging inlet through which a gas is charged into the container; a positioning pin projecting from the table and adapted to engage with the positioning groove of the container; a nozzle configured to charge the gas into the container through the charging inlet; and a drive unit configured to move the nozzle into contact with the charging inlet of the container after the positioning pin is engaged with the positioning groove.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 2, 2011Publication date: September 8, 2011Applicant: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventors: Mitsuo NATSUME, Mitsutoshi Ochiai, Takumi Mizokawa
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Patent number: 7793906Abstract: The carrier base 3 is movably installed at the upper part of the FOUP opener main body 50b, and the clamping base 4 is movably installed at the upper part of the carrier base 3. The clamp lever 5a is rotatably supported by the rotating shaft 5c at the upper part of the clamping base 4, and the clamping pawl 5b is formed on the clamp lever 5a. The carrier base 3 and the FOUP 2 integrally move. The clamping pawl 5b, which is accommodated into the clamping recess 2h, presses the clamped portion 2c from above to below, by which the FOUP 2 is fixed to the mounting base 51.Type: GrantFiled: March 31, 2008Date of Patent: September 14, 2010Assignee: Shinko Electric Co., Ltd.Inventor: Mitsuo Natsume
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Publication number: 20100143027Abstract: The present invention relates to an attaching apparatus for attaching a load port apparatus, which is configured to receive a wafer carrier in which a wafer is accommodated in order to transfer the wafer to and from a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, to an attaching face of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus. A bogie track body is attached to a lower end portion of the load port apparatus. A pair of positioning protrusions are attached to the lower end portion of the load port apparatus in such a manner as to project downwardly. A support plate is secured to a lower end portion of the attaching face of the wall body in such a manner as to project to this side. A pair of positioning recesses are formed on an upper face of the support plate in such a manner as to be fitted with the positioning projections.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 19, 2010Publication date: June 10, 2010Applicant: SINFONIA TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.Inventor: Mitsuo NATSUME