Patents by Inventor Shinji Obama

Shinji Obama 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: 9566821
    Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma-generation high-frequency power supply which generates plasma in a processing chamber, a biasing high-frequency power supply which applies high-frequency bias electric power to an electrode on which a sample is placed, a monitor which monitors a peak-to-peak value of the high-frequency bias electric power applied to the electrode, an electrostatic chuck power supply which makes the electrode electrostatically attract the sample, a self-bias voltage calculating unit which calculates self-bias voltage of the sample by monitoring the peak-to-peak value of the high-frequency bias electric power applied to the electrode, and an output voltage control unit which controls output voltage of the electrostatic chuck power supply based on the calculated self-bias voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: HITACHI HIGH-TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Takamasa Ichino, Ryoji Nishio, Shinji Obama
  • Patent number: 8731706
    Abstract: A vacuum processing apparatus includes a plurality of vacuum containers; a vacuumized transfer unit connected with the vacuum containers and having a transfer chamber; a plurality of lock chambers connected to the vacuumized transfer unit; a vacuumized transferring section arranged in the transfer chamber to transfer the sample between each of the lock chambers and each of the processing chambers inside the plurality of vacuum containers; an atmospheric transfer container having a space through which the sample is transferred under the atmospheric pressure; an atmospheric transfer unit arranged in the atmospheric transfer container and adapted to transfer the sample from a cassette; and a controller operative on the basis of schedule information of a plurality of operations to adjust the operations, the information including times of stagnation of the plurality of samples and set therefor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Shingo Kimura, Shouji Okiguchi, Akira Kagoshima, Shinji Obama
  • Patent number: 8329054
    Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma-generation high-frequency power supply which generates plasma in a processing chamber, a biasing high-frequency power supply which applies high-frequency bias electric power to an electrode on which a sample is placed, a monitor which monitors a peak-to-peak value of the high-frequency bias electric power applied to the electrode, an electrostatic chuck power supply which makes the electrode electrostatically attract the sample, a self-bias voltage calculating unit which calculates self-bias voltage of the sample by monitoring the peak-to-peak value of the high-frequency bias electric power applied to the electrode, and an output voltage control unit which controls output voltage of the electrostatic chuck power supply based on the calculated self-bias voltage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Takamasa Ichino, Ryoji Nishio, Shinji Obama
  • Publication number: 20120186747
    Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus is provided with a processing chamber which is arranged inside a vacuum container and plasma is formed inside, a circular shape plate member made of a dielectric material arranged above the processing chamber through which an electric field is transmitted, and a cavity part having a cylindrical shape arranged above the plate member and the electric field is introduced inside, in which the cavity part is provided with a first cylindrical cavity part having a cylindrical shape cavity with a large diameter and having the plate member as the bottom face, a second cylindrical cavity part arranged above to be connected to the first cylindrical cavity part and having a cylindrical shape cavity with a small diameter, and a step portion for connecting these between the first and the second cylindrical cavity parts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2011
    Publication date: July 26, 2012
    Inventors: Shinji OBAMA, Masaru Izawa, Kenji Maeda, Yoshihide Kihara, Kouichi Yamamoto, Hitoshi Tamura
  • Patent number: 8186300
    Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus for processing a surface of a to-be-processed substrate includes a processing chamber, a first electrode provided in the processing chamber, a second electrode arranged in opposition to the first electrode, a main power source for supplying the first or second electrode with power for generating a plasma, a biasing power source for supplying the second or first electrode with biasing power, a gas supplying unit for supplying a processing gas into the processing chamber and a control unit for controlling the main power source, the biasing power source and the gas supplying unit. The control unit performs a control such that, during a time of transition from a stationary state of plasma, in which a plasma processing is to be carried out, to a plasma quenching, an output of the main power source is kept not larger than an output of the biasing power source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 29, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Takamasa Ichino, Ryoji Nishio, Tomoyuki Tamura, Shinji Obama
  • Publication number: 20100163184
    Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus for processing a surface of a to-be-processed substrate includes a processing chamber, a first electrode provided in the processing chamber, a second electrode arranged in opposition to the first electrode, a main power source for supplying the first or second electrode with power for generating a plasma, a biasing power source for supplying the second or first electrode with biasing power, a gas supplying unit for supplying a processing gas into the processing chamber and a control unit for controlling the main power source, the biasing power source and the gas supplying unit. The control unit performs a control such that, during a time of transition from a stationary state of plasma, in which a plasma processing is to be carried out, to a plasma quenching, an output of the main power source is kept not larger than an output of the biasing power source.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 12, 2009
    Publication date: July 1, 2010
    Inventors: Takamasa ICHINO, Ryoji Nishio, Tomoyuki Tamura, Shinji Obama
  • Publication number: 20100068009
    Abstract: A vacuum processing apparatus includes a plurality of vacuum containers; a vacuumized transfer unit connected with the vacuum containers and having a transfer chamber; a plurality of lock chambers connected to the vacuumized transfer unit; a vacuumized transferring section arranged in the transfer chamber to transfer the sample between each of the lock chambers and each of the processing chambers inside the plurality of vacuum containers; an atmospheric transfer container having a space through which the sample is transferred under the atmospheric pressure; an atmospheric transfer unit arranged in the atmospheric transfer container and adapted to transfer the sample from a cassette; and a controller operative on the basis of schedule information of a plurality of operations to adjust the operations, the information including times of stagnation of the plurality of samples and set therefor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 19, 2009
    Publication date: March 18, 2010
    Inventors: Shingo Kimura, Shouji Okiguchi, Akira Kagoshima, Shinji Obama
  • Publication number: 20090321391
    Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus includes a plasma-generation high-frequency power supply which generates plasma in a processing chamber, a biasing high-frequency power supply which applies high-frequency bias electric power to an electrode on which a sample is placed, a monitor which monitors a peak-to-peak value of the high-frequency bias electric power applied to the electrode, an electrostatic chuck power supply which makes the electrode electrostatically attract the sample, a self-bias voltage calculating unit which calculates self-bias voltage of the sample by monitoring the peak-to-peak value of the high-frequency bias electric power applied to the electrode, and an output voltage control unit which controls output voltage of the electrostatic chuck power supply based on the calculated self-bias voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2008
    Publication date: December 31, 2009
    Inventors: Takamasa ICHINO, Ryoji NISHIO, Shinji OBAMA
  • Publication number: 20090283502
    Abstract: A unit for minimizing the problem that affects a substrate to be processed at the time of turning off a plasma is provided in a plasma processing apparatus using a magnetic field. The plasma processing apparatus comprises: a plasma-generating high-frequency power supply; a bias power supply; and a coil power supply which is connected to a coil disposed outside a vacuum process chamber and generates a magnetic field inside the vacuum process chamber, and the plasma processing apparatus further comprises: a magnetic field measuring unit which measures a magnetic field strength inside the vacuum process chamber; and a control unit which turns off an output on/off signal of the plasma-generating high-frequency power supply or the bias power supply when a magnetic field strength, which is measured after an output on/off signal of the coil power supply is turned off, decays to a predetermined value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2008
    Publication date: November 19, 2009
    Inventors: Shinji OBAMA, Tomoyuki Tamura, Ryoji Nishio