Patents by Inventor Fumiko Iwao

Fumiko Iwao 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: 9741559
    Abstract: The present invention is to form an organic film on a substrate having a pattern formed on a front surface thereof and configured to: apply an organic material onto the substrate; then thermally treat the organic material to form an organic film on the substrate; and then perform ultraviolet irradiation processing on the organic film to remove a surface of the organic film down to a predetermined depth, thereby appropriately and efficiently form the organic film on the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Satoru Shimura, Fumiko Iwao, Kousuke Yoshihara
  • Patent number: 9341952
    Abstract: In the present invention, photolithography processing is performed on a substrate to form a resist pattern over the substrate, and a treatment agent is caused to enter a side surface of the resist pattern and metal is caused to infiltrate the side surface of the resist pattern via the treatment agent, the formed resist pattern has a high etching selection ratio with respect to a film to be treated on the substrate so as to suppress a so-called pattern collapse, therefore.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 17, 2016
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Fumiko Iwao, Satoru Shimura
  • Patent number: 9329483
    Abstract: To appropriately form a metal-containing film containing metal on a substrate, a method first forms an organic film on the substrate, and causes a treatment agent to enter the organic film and causes metal to infiltrate the organic film via the treatment agent, thereby forming the metal-containing film. The metal-containing film contains metal and thus has a high etching selection ratio that is originally required performance. This makes it possible to appropriately form the metal-containing film having a high etching selection ratio on the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Fumiko Iwao, Satoru Shimura
  • Patent number: 9280052
    Abstract: The present invention includes: a resist film forming step of forming a resist film over a substrate; an exposure step of exposing the resist film into a predetermined pattern; a metal treatment step of causing a treatment agent to enter an exposed portion exposed in the exposure step of the resist film and causing metal to infiltrate the exposed portion via the treatment agent; and a resist film removing step of removing an unexposed portion not exposed in the exposure step of the resist film to form a resist pattern over the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2016
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Fumiko Iwao, Satoru Shimura
  • Publication number: 20150357188
    Abstract: The present invention is to form an organic film on a substrate having a pattern formed on a front surface thereof and configured to: apply an organic material onto the substrate; then thermally treat the organic material to form an organic film on the substrate; and then perform ultraviolet irradiation processing on the organic film to remove a surface of the organic film down to a predetermined depth, thereby appropriately and efficiently form the organic film on the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2014
    Publication date: December 10, 2015
    Inventors: Satoru SHIMURA, Fumiko IWAO, Kousuke YOSHIHARA
  • Patent number: 8842257
    Abstract: A substrate treatment method of performing treatment on a substrate on which a pattern mask has been formed by exposure and developing treatment to improve roughness of the pattern mask includes the processes of: mounting the substrate on a stage in a treatment container; and repeating a plurality of times steps of supplying a solvent gas to a center portion of the substrate while exhausting the solvent gas from a periphery of the substrate to swell the pattern mask, and then supplying a drying gas for drying the solvent supplied to the substrate to the center portion of the substrate while exhausting the drying gas from the periphery of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 23, 2014
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Shinji Kobayashi, Fumiko Iwao
  • Publication number: 20140255852
    Abstract: The present invention includes: a resist film forming step of forming a resist film over a substrate; an exposure step of exposing the resist film into a predetermined pattern; a metal treatment step of causing a treatment agent to enter an exposed portion exposed in the exposure step of the resist film and causing metal to infiltrate the exposed portion via the treatment agent; and a resist film removing step of removing an unexposed portion not exposed in the exposure step of the resist film to form a resist pattern over the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2014
    Publication date: September 11, 2014
    Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Fumiko IWAO, Satoru SHIMURA
  • Publication number: 20140255844
    Abstract: In the present invention, photolithography processing is performed on a substrate to form a resist pattern over the substrate, and a treatment agent is caused to enter a side surface of the resist pattern and metal is caused to infiltrate the side surface of the resist pattern via the treatment agent, the formed resist pattern has a high etching selection ratio with respect to a film to be treated on the substrate so as to suppress a so-called pattern collapse, therefore.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2014
    Publication date: September 11, 2014
    Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Fumiko IWAO, Satoru SHIMURA
  • Patent number: 8791030
    Abstract: In the present invention, a masking solution is supplied to an edge portion of a front surface of a substrate rotated around a vertical axis to form a masking film at the edge portion of the substrate, a hard mask solution is supplied to the front surface of the substrate to form a hard mask film on the front surface of the substrate, a hard mask film removing solution dissolving the hard mask film is supplied to the hard mask film formed at the edge portion of the substrate to remove the hard mask film formed at the edge portion of the substrate, and a masking film removing solution dissolving the masking film is supplied to the masking film to remove the masking film at the edge portion of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2014
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Fumiko Iwao, Satoru Shimura, Kousuke Yoshihara
  • Publication number: 20140170332
    Abstract: To appropriately form a metal-containing film containing metal on a substrate, a method first forms an organic film on the substrate, and causes a treatment agent to enter the organic film and causes metal to infiltrate the organic film via the treatment agent, thereby forming the metal-containing film. The metal-containing film contains metal and thus has a high etching selection ratio that is originally required performance. This makes it possible to appropriately form the metal-containing film having a high etching selection ratio on the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2013
    Publication date: June 19, 2014
    Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Fumiko IWAO, Satoru SHIMURA
  • Publication number: 20140038423
    Abstract: In the present invention, a masking solution is supplied to an edge portion of a front surface of a substrate rotated around a vertical axis to form a masking film at the edge portion of the substrate, a hard mask solution is supplied to the front surface of the substrate to form a hard mask film on the front surface of the substrate, a hard mask film removing solution dissolving the hard mask film is supplied to the hard mask film formed at the edge portion of the substrate to remove the hard mask film formed at the edge portion of the substrate, and a masking film removing solution dissolving the masking film is supplied to the masking film to remove the masking film at the edge portion of the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2013
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Fumiko IWAO, Satoru SHIMURA, Kousuke YOSHIHARA
  • Patent number: 8530357
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, which includes forming a resist layer on a substrate, performing an exposure and development process on the resist layer to form a resist pattern, performing a slimming process to slim the resist pattern, forming a mask material layer on side walls of the slimmed resist pattern, and removing the slimmed resist pattern. The slimming process further includes coating an extensive agent on the substrate, expanding the expansive agent, and removing the expanded expansive agent.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2013
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventor: Fumiko Iwao
  • Publication number: 20120302066
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, which includes forming a resist layer on a substrate, performing an exposure and development process on the resist layer to form a resist pattern, performing a slimming process to slim the resist pattern, forming a mask material layer on side walls of the slimmed resist pattern, and removing the slimmed resist pattern. The slimming process further includes coating an extensive agent on the substrate, expanding the expansive agent, and removing the expanded expansive agent.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2011
    Publication date: November 29, 2012
    Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventor: Fumiko Iwao
  • Publication number: 20120225390
    Abstract: A substrate treatment method of performing treatment on a substrate on which a pattern mask has been formed by exposure and developing treatment to improve roughness of the pattern mask includes the processes of: mounting the substrate on a stage in a treatment container; and repeating a plurality of times steps of supplying a solvent gas to a center portion of the substrate while exhausting the solvent gas from a periphery of the substrate to swell the pattern mask, and then supplying a drying gas for drying the solvent supplied to the substrate to the center portion of the substrate while exhausting the drying gas from the periphery of the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 22, 2012
    Publication date: September 6, 2012
    Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Shinji KOBAYASHI, Fumiko IWAO
  • Patent number: 8202682
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: forming a resist layer on an underlayer, forming an exposed pattern in the resist layer, wherein the exposed pattern comprises a soluble layer and an insoluble layer, forming a resist pattern by removing the soluble layer from the resist layer in which the exposed pattern is formed, removing an intermediate exposed area from the resist pattern, forming a new soluble layer in a surface of the resist pattern from which the intermediate exposed area is removed by applying a reaction material to the resist pattern from which the intermediate exposed area is removed, wherein the reaction material generates a solubilization material that solubilizes the resist pattern, and removing the new soluble layer from the resist pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Fumiko Iwao, Satoru Shimura, Tetsu Kawasaki
  • Patent number: 7901514
    Abstract: A cleaning method of cleaning a surface of a substrate that is processed by a developing process. The method includes pouring a cleaning liquid onto a central part of the substrate. A dry area that is not wetted with the cleaning liquid is created in a central part of the substrate by stopping pouring the cleaning liquid or by shifting a cleaning liquid pouring position to which the cleaning liquid is poured from the central part while the substrate holding device is rotating. The dry area is expanded outward from the central part of the substrate by rotating the substrate holding device at a rotating speed not lower than 1500 rpm without pouring the cleaning liquid onto the dry area. The cleaning liquid is poured onto an outer area contiguously surrounding the dry area on the surface of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 8, 2011
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Junji Nakamura, Kousuke Yoshihara, Kentaro Yamamura, Fumiko Iwao, Hirofumi Takeguchi
  • Publication number: 20090272407
    Abstract: A cleaning method of cleaning a surface of a substrate that is processed by a developing process. The method includes pouring a cleaning liquid onto a central part of the substrate. A dry area that is not wetted with the cleaning liquid is created in a central part of the substrate by stopping pouring the cleaning liquid or by shifting a cleaning liquid pouring position to which the cleaning liquid is poured from the central part while the substrate holding device is rotating. The dry area is expanded outward from the central part of the substrate by rotating the substrate holding device at a rotating speed not lower than 1500 rpm without pouring the cleaning liquid onto the dry area. The cleaning liquid is poured onto an outer area contiguously surrounding the dry area on the surface of the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 15, 2009
    Publication date: November 5, 2009
    Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Junji NAKAMURA, Kousuke Yoshihara, Kentaro Yamamura, Fumiko Iwao, Hirofumi Takeguchi
  • Patent number: 7604013
    Abstract: A cleaning method highly effectively cleans a surface of a semiconductor wafer by removing a dissolution product, produced when a surface of a semiconductor wafer is processed by a developing process that develops an exposed film formed on the semiconductor wafer by wetting the exposed film with a developer, from the surface of the semiconductor wafer. A cleaning liquid is poured through a cleaning liquid pouring nozzle onto a central part of a rotating wafer processed by a developing process to spread the cleaning liquid in a film over the surface of the wafer. Then, the cleaning liquid pouring nozzle is shifted to create a dry area in a central part of the wafer and the wafer is rotated at 1500 rpm to expand the dry area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 9, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2009
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Junji Nakamura, Kousuke Yoshihara, Kentaro Yamamura, Fumiko Iwao, Hirofumi Takeguchi
  • Publication number: 20090220892
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes: forming a resist layer on an underlayer, forming an exposed pattern in the resist layer, wherein the exposed pattern comprises a soluble layer and an insoluble layer, forming a resist pattern by removing the soluble layer from the resist layer in which the exposed pattern is formed, removing an intermediate exposed area from the resist pattern, forming a new soluble layer in a surface of the resist pattern from which the intermediate exposed area is removed by applying a reaction material to the resist pattern from which the intermediate exposed area is removed, wherein the reaction material generates a solubilization material that solubilizes the resist pattern, and removing the new soluble layer from the resist pattern.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 2, 2009
    Publication date: September 3, 2009
    Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Fumiko IWAO, Satoru SHIMURA, Tetsu KAWASAKI
  • Publication number: 20060048792
    Abstract: A cleaning method highly effectively cleans a surface of a semiconductor wafer by removing a dissolution product, produced when a surface of a semiconductor wafer is processed by a developing process that develops an exposed film formed on the semiconductor wafer by wetting the exposed film with a developer, from the surface of the semiconductor wafer. A cleaning liquid is poured through a cleaning liquid pouring nozzle onto a central part of a rotating wafer processed by a developing process to spread the cleaning liquid in a film over the surface of the wafer. Then, the cleaning liquid pouring nozzle is shifted to create a dry area in a central part of the wafer and the wafer is rotated at 1500 rpm to expand the dry area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2005
    Publication date: March 9, 2006
    Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Junji Nakamura, Kousuke Yoshihara, Kentaro Yamamura, Fumiko Iwao, Hirofumi Takeguchi