Patents Examined by Allan W. Olsen
  • Patent number: 12261028
    Abstract: In a plasma processing apparatus, a table has a wafer support to hold a wafer and a peripheral segment surrounding the wafer support and having through-holes. The peripheral segment has an upper surface lower than that of the wafer support. An outer focus ring is disposed over the peripheral segment and has a recess or a cutout at an inner portion of the outer focus ring, and the recess or cutout has through-holes. An inner focus ring is disposed in the recess or cutout of the outer focus ring. Lift pins respectively extend through the through-holes of the peripheral segment and the through-holes of the recess or cutout of the outer focus ring. Shift mechanisms control shift of the respective lift pins.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Shuichi Takahashi, Takaharu Miyadate, Takaaki Kikuchi, Atsushi Ogata, Nobutaka Sasaki, Takashi Taira
  • Patent number: 12258491
    Abstract: A polishing liquid containing: abrasive grains; at least one hydroxy acid component selected from the group consisting of a hydroxy acid and a salt thereof; and a compound Z, in which the compound Z has a hydrocarbon group which may be substituted and a polyoxyalkylene group, and a Z value represented by General Formula (1) below is 20 or more: Z=0.1×a2×b/c??(1) [in Formula (1), “a” represents the number of carbon atoms of the hydrocarbon group, “b” represents the total number of oxyalkylene groups in the compound Z, and “c” represents an HLB value of the compound Z.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 25, 2025
    Assignee: Resonac Corporation
    Inventors: Tomomi Kukita, Tomohiro Iwano, Tomoyasu Hasegawa
  • Patent number: 12255051
    Abstract: Embodiments of the disclosure provided herein include a method for processing a substrate in a plasma processing system. The method includes receiving a first synchronization waveform signal from a controller, delivering a first burst of first voltage pulses to an electrode assembly after receiving a first portion of the first synchronization waveform signal, wherein at least one first parameter of the first voltage pulses is set to a first value based on a first waveform parameter within the first portion of the first synchronization waveform signal, and delivering a second burst of second voltage pulses to the electrode assembly after receiving a second portion of the first synchronization waveform signal, wherein the at least one first parameter of the first voltage pulses is set to a second value based on a difference in the first waveform parameter within the second portion of the first synchronization waveform signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Linying Cui, James Rogers, Daniel Sang Byun, Rajinder Dhindsa, Keith Hernandez
  • Patent number: 12255075
    Abstract: An atomic layer etching method using a ligand exchange reaction may include a substrate providing step of putting a substrate with a thin film formed thereon into a reaction chamber, a halogenated thin film forming step of forming a halogenated thin film on a surface of the thin film by infusing a halogenated gas into the reaction chamber, and an etching step of etching the halogenated thin film by infusing a ligand without a metal or metal precursor into the reaction chamber with the substrate with the halogenated thin film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2023
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignees: SK hynix Inc., Merck Patent GmbH
    Inventors: Jae Chul Lee, Hyun Sik Noh, Dong Kyun Lee, Eun Ae Jung, Kyoung-Mun Kim, Jooyong Kim, Younghun Byun, Byeong Il Yang, Changhyun Jin
  • Patent number: 12243749
    Abstract: Embodiments of a wet etch process and methods are disclosed herein to provide uniform wet etching of material within high aspect ratio features. In the present disclosure, a wet etch process is used to etch material within high aspect ratio features, such as deep trenches and holes, provided on a patterned substrate. Uniform wet etching is provided in the present disclosure by ensuring that wall surfaces of the material being etched (or wall surfaces adjacent to the material being etched) exhibit a neutral surface charge when exposed to the etch solution used to etch the material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2022
    Date of Patent: March 4, 2025
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Shan Hu, Henan Zhang, Sangita Kumari, Peter Delia
  • Patent number: 12234400
    Abstract: An etchant composition for etching a silicon germanium film includes, based on a total weight of the etchant composition, about 5 wt % to about 14 wt % of an oxidant, about 0.01 wt % to about 5 wt % of a fluorine compound, about 0.01 wt % to about 5 wt % of an amine compound, about 0.01 wt % to about 1 wt % of an alcohol compound having a hydrophilic head and a hydrophobic tail, about 60 wt % to about 90 wt % of an organic solvent, and a balance of water. A method of manufacturing an integrated circuit device includes: forming, on a substrate, a structure in which a plurality of silicon films and a plurality of silicon germanium films are alternately stacked; and selectively removing the plurality of silicon germanium films by using the etchant composition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2023
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2025
    Inventors: Changjun Park, Jaesung Lee, Junghun Lim, Jungmin Oh, Sangwon Bae, Hyosan Lee
  • Patent number: 12234382
    Abstract: A chemical mechanical polishing composition for polishing tungsten or molybdenum comprises, consists essentially of, or consists of a water based liquid carrier, abrasive particles dispersed in the liquid carrier, an amino acid selected from the group consisting of arginine, histidine, cysteine, lysine, and mixtures thereof, an anionic polymer or an anionic surfactant, and an optional amino acid surfactant. A method for chemical mechanical polishing a substrate including a tungsten layer or a molybdenum layer includes contacting the substrate with the above described polishing composition, moving the polishing composition relative to the substrate, and abrading the substrate to remove a portion of the tungsten layer or the molybdenum layer from the substrate and thereby polish the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2025
    Assignee: CMC Materials LLC
    Inventors: Hsin-Yen Wu, Jin-Hao Jhang, Cheng-Yuan Ko
  • Patent number: 12224157
    Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus having an improved yield includes a metal base member having a disk shape or a cylindrical shape arranged inside a sample table; a refrigerant flow path arranged multiple times in a concentrical shape around a center of the base member; at least one temperature sensor; and a controller configured to detect a temperature of the base member or the wafer using the temperature sensor. The controller is configured to detect the temperature of the base member or the wafer based on one of a plurality of linear functions indicating a relation between an error and a set temperature of the refrigerant, and the linear functions are different corresponding to regions of a plurality of continuous temperature ranges within an adjustable temperature range of the refrigerant, and the plurality of linear functions include the same coefficient and have a point where the error is 0.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2025
    Assignee: Hitachi High-Tech Corporation
    Inventors: Yuki Tanaka, Takamasa Ichino, Shintarou Nakatani, Ryusuke Eijima
  • Patent number: 12217970
    Abstract: Disclosed is a plasma etching method. The plasma etching method comprises: a first step for evaporating liquid perfluoropropyl carbinol (PPC); a second step for supplying a discharge gas including the evaporated PPC and argon gas to a plasma chamber in which an object to be etched is arranged; and a third step for discharging the discharge gas to generate plasma, and using the plasma to plasma-etch the object to be etched.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2025
    Assignee: AJOU UNIVERSITY INDUSTRY-ACADEMIC COOPERATION FOUNDATION
    Inventors: Chang-Koo Kim, Jun-Hyun Kim
  • Patent number: 12217935
    Abstract: A plasma processing method includes generating a plasma within a processing chamber using source power to ignite a glow phase of the plasma, generating low-energy ions at a substrate supported by a substrate holder in the processing chamber from the plasma using lower-frequency radio frequency bias power applied during the glow phase, and generating high-energy ions at the substrate using higher-frequency radio frequency bias power applied during an afterglow phase of the plasma. The frequency of the higher-frequency radio frequency bias power is greater than the frequency of the lower-frequency radio frequency bias power.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2025
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Ya-Ming Chen, Shyam Sridhar, Peter Lowell George Ventzek, Alok Ranjan
  • Patent number: 12211693
    Abstract: A method for forming a metal containing feature includes performing a deposition process, the deposition process comprising conformally depositing an over layer on top surfaces of a patterned mandrel layer and over a spacer layer on sidewalls of the patterned mandrel layer, and performing an etch process, the etch process comprising removing the over layer from the top surfaces of the patterned mandrel layer and shoulder portions of the spacer layer, and removing the shoulder portions of the spacer layer, using a fluorine containing etching gas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2025
    Assignee: Applied Materials, Inc.
    Inventors: Chao Li, Gene Lee
  • Patent number: 12203022
    Abstract: Compositions useful for the selective removal of silicon nitride materials relative to polysilicon, silicon oxide materials and/or silicide materials from a microelectronic device having same thereon are provided. The compositions of the invention are particularly useful in the etching of 3D NAND structures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2025
    Assignee: ENTEGRIS, INC.
    Inventors: Daniela White, David Kuiper, Susan Dimeo
  • Patent number: 12198939
    Abstract: A technique for semiconductor manufacturing is provided. The technique includes the operations as follows. A semiconductor structure having a first material is received. A plurality of first main etches are performed to the semiconductor structure for a plurality of first durations under the first etching chemistry. A plurality of pumping operations are performed for a plurality of pumping durations, each of the pumping operations being prior to each of the first main etches. Each of the first durations is in a range of from about 1 second to about 2.5 seconds.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2022
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2025
    Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY LTD.
    Inventors: Han-Yu Lin, Li-Te Lin, Tze-Chung Lin, Fang-Wei Lee, Yi-Lun Chen, Jung-Hao Chang, Yi-Chen Lo, Fo-Ju Lin, Kenichi Sano, Pinyen Lin
  • Patent number: 12184259
    Abstract: A back side of a diamond or other substrate is thinned using plasma etches and a mask situated away from the back side by a spacer having a thickness between 50 ?m and 250 ?m. Typically, a combined RIE/ICP etch is used to thin the substrate from 20-40 ?m to less than 1 ?m. For applications in which color centers are implanted or otherwise situated on a front side of the diamond substrate, after thinning, a soft graded etch is applied to reduce color center linewidth, particularly for nitrogen vacancy (NV) color centers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 31, 2024
    Assignee: University of Oregon
    Inventors: Ignas Lekavicius, Hailin Wang
  • Patent number: 12176219
    Abstract: A semiconductor device forming method that includes a step for forming a coating layer and a step for performing etching. In the step for forming a coating layer, the coating layer is formed. The coating layer selectively covers a portion of a recess provided in a stacked structure supported by a base member. The portion of the recess is located on a front surface side of the recess. In the step for performing etching, a deep portion, which is deeper than the coating layer, of the recess is etched with a chemical liquid so as to widen a diameter of the deep portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2024
    Assignee: SCREEN HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Eiji Umeda, Masaki Inaba
  • Patent number: 12165873
    Abstract: In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a mask pattern is formed over a target layer to be etched, and the target layer is etched by using the mask pattern as an etching mask. The etching is performed by using an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma etching apparatus, the ECR plasma etching apparatus includes one or more coils, and a plasma condition of the ECR plasma etching is changed during the etching the target layer by changing an input current to the one or more coils.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2024
    Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD.
    Inventors: En-Ping Lin, Yu-Ling Ko, I-Chung Wang, Yi-Jen Chen, Sheng-Kai Jou, Chih-Teng Liao
  • Patent number: 12157693
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a window and a window manufactured by the same are provided. A method of manufacturing a window includes laser cutting a base glass into a preliminary window using first laser light, irradiating, with second laser light, a point spaced apart from an edge of the preliminary window at a first distance, and providing a window including a flat portion and an edge portion by wet etching the preliminary window irradiated with the second laser light. A method of manufacturing a window having a chamfer shape at the edge portion is facilitated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2022
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2024
    Assignees: Samsung Display Co., Ltd., Dowooinsys Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hyungsik Kim, Cheollae Roh, Jang Doo Lee, Beomsoo Kim, Hanggyun Park, Joongsung Lee, Woohyun Jung, Seungjun Yi, Hyungsup Lee, Sunhong Choi
  • Patent number: 12152187
    Abstract: Provided are compositions and methods for selectively etching titanium nitride, generally leaving molybdenum present unaffected by the process, as well as any aluminum oxide, silicon dioxide, and polysilicon which may be present on the device. In general, the compositions of the invention were able to achieve titanium nitride etch rates exceeding 3.5 ?/minute, thereby providing uniform recess top and bottom layers in patterns.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2024
    Assignee: ENTEGRIS, INC.
    Inventors: Eric Hong, SeongJin Hong, WonLae Kim, JeongYeol Yang, SeungHyun Chae, JuHee Yeo
  • Patent number: 12146077
    Abstract: Provided is a polishing composition that can effectively improve a polishing removal rate. According to the present invention, a polishing composition for polishing a polishing target material is provided. The polishing composition contains water, an oxidant, and a polishing removal accelerator, and does not contain abrasive. At least one metal salt selected from the group consisting of an alkali metal salt and an alkaline earth metal salt is contained as the polishing removal accelerator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2024
    Assignee: FUJIMI INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Yasuaki Ito, Hiroyuki Oda, Naoto Noguchi
  • Patent number: 12150386
    Abstract: A treatment liquid contains orthoperiodic acid and water, and the pH is 11 or more. It is preferable that the content of orthoperiodic acid in the treatment liquid is 0.01% to 5% by mass with respect to the total mass of the treatment liquid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2024
    Assignee: FUJIFILM CORPORATION
    Inventors: Keeyoung Park, Atsushi Mizutani