Patents by Inventor Hiroaki Kakuma

Hiroaki Kakuma 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: 11908752
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus that includes a substrate holder, a cup member, an elevating mechanism, a first nozzle, and a camera. The substrate holder holds a substrate and rotates the substrate. The cup member surrounds the outer circumference of the substrate holder. The elevating mechanism moves up the cup member so that the upper end portion of the cup member is located at the upper end position higher than the substrate held by the substrate holder. The first nozzle has a discharge port at a position lower than the upper end position, and discharges first processing liquid from the discharge port to an end portion of the substrate. The camera images an imaging region that includes the first processing liquid discharged from the discharge port of the first nozzle and is viewed from an imaging position above the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideji Naohara, Yuji Okita, Hiroaki Kakuma, Tatsuya Masui
  • Publication number: 20230241634
    Abstract: A substrate processing method includes: a holding step of carrying a substrate into an inside of a chamber and holding said substrate; a supply step of supplying a fluid to the substrate on the inside of the chamber; an imaging step of sequentially imaging the inside of the chamber by a camera to acquire image data; a condition setting step of specifying a monitoring target and changing an image condition based on the monitoring target; and a monitoring step of performing a monitoring process on the monitoring target based on the image data having the image condition corresponding to the monitoring target.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2021
    Publication date: August 3, 2023
    Inventors: Yuji OKITA, Hideji NAOHARA, Hiroaki KAKUMA, Tatsuya MASUI, Yuichi DEBA
  • Patent number: 11646212
    Abstract: A substrate treatment device is provided, including a substrate holding unit holding a substrate and rotating the substrate; plural nozzles each having a discharge port and discharging a treatment liquid from the discharge port at a treatment position; a camera imaging an imaging region from an imaging position to acquire captured images, the imaging region containing the treatment liquid discharged from the discharge port of each nozzle positioned at the treatment position, and the imaging position being above the substrate held on the substrate holding unit and in a plan view, the imaging position being positioned at a central side of the substrate with respect to the nozzles and at an upstream side in a rotation direction of the substrate holding unit with respect to the nozzles; and an image processing unit determining a discharge state of the treatment liquid based on the captured images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2022
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideji Naohara, Yuji Okita, Hiroaki Kakuma, Tatsuya Masui
  • Publication number: 20230009810
    Abstract: A state detection device includes at least one chuck pin for holding a substrate, a photographing unit configured to photograph the chuck pin, and set at least one image to be obtained as a target image, a matching coordinate calculation unit configured to perform matching processing between the target image and a reference image which is at least one image showing the chuck pin, and calculate matching coordinates, which are coordinates indicating a position of the reference image in the target image when a matching score between the reference image and the target image is the highest, and a detection unit configured to detect an open/closed state of the chuck pin based on the matching coordinates. Therefore, the open/closed state of the chuck pin can be detected while detection accuracy is suppressed from lowering.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 20, 2022
    Publication date: January 12, 2023
    Inventors: Yuji OKITA, Hideji NAOHARA, Hiroaki KAKUMA, Tatsuya MASUI, Yuichi DEBA
  • Publication number: 20220216117
    Abstract: A substrate treatment device is provided, including a substrate holding unit holding a substrate and rotating the substrate; plural nozzles each having a discharge port and discharging a treatment liquid from the discharge port at a treatment position; a camera imaging an imaging region from an imaging position to acquire captured images, the imaging region containing the treatment liquid discharged from the discharge port of each nozzle positioned at the treatment position, and the imaging position being above the substrate held on the substrate holding unit and in a plan view, the imaging position being positioned at a central side of the substrate with respect to the nozzles and at an upstream side in a rotation direction of the substrate holding unit with respect to the nozzles; and an image processing unit determining a discharge state of the treatment liquid based on the captured images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2022
    Publication date: July 7, 2022
    Applicant: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideji NAOHARA, Yuji OKITA, Hiroaki KAKUMA, Tatsuya MASUI
  • Patent number: 11322415
    Abstract: A substrate treatment method is provided, including: holding a substrate on a substrate holding unit; rotating the substrate holding unit to rotate the substrate; raising a cup member surrounding an outer periphery of the substrate holding unit to locate an upper end of the cup member in an upper end position higher than an upper surface of the substrate held on the substrate holding unit; discharging a treatment liquid from a discharge port of a nozzle located lower than the upper end position to an end portion of the upper surface of the substrate held on the substrate holding unit; an imaging process, acquiring captured images of an imaging region by a camera, wherein the imaging region contains the treatment liquid discharged from the discharge port and is seen from an imaging position above the substrate; and determining a discharge state of the treatment liquid based on the captured images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2022
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideji Naohara, Yuji Okita, Hiroaki Kakuma, Tatsuya Masui
  • Publication number: 20220005736
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus that includes a substrate holder, a cup member, an elevating mechanism, a first nozzle, and a camera. The substrate holder holds a substrate and rotates the substrate. The cup member surrounds the outer circumference of the substrate holder. The elevating mechanism moves up the cup member so that the upper end portion of the cup member is located at the upper end position higher than the substrate held by the substrate holder. The first nozzle has a discharge port at a position lower than the upper end position, and discharges first processing liquid from the discharge port to an end portion of the substrate. The camera images an imaging region that includes the first processing liquid discharged from the discharge port of the first nozzle and is viewed from an imaging position above the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 25, 2019
    Publication date: January 6, 2022
    Inventors: Hideji NAOHARA, Yuji OKITA, Hiroaki KAKUMA, Tatsuya MASUI
  • Publication number: 20210398260
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus processes a substrate. The substrate processing apparatus includes at least one processing unit that processes the substrate, first and second cameras that image different subject areas, and an association processing unit that generates association information indicating association between each of the subject areas and each of the first and second cameras by processing an image captured by each of the first and second cameras.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2019
    Publication date: December 23, 2021
    Inventors: Hideji NAOHARA, Hiroaki KAKUMA
  • Patent number: 11011398
    Abstract: In equipment that supplies a processing liquid on a top surface of a substrate while holding the substrate horizontally in a chamber a generation status of fumes is determined. Specifically, an image of a predetermined imaging area in the chamber is captured. Then, the generation status of fumes in the chamber is determined based on luminance values of the captured image acquired by the capturing of an image. Accordingly, it is possible to quantitatively determine whether a generation status of fumes in a chamber is normal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2021
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toru Endo, Masayuki Hayashi, Nobuyuki Shibayama, Hideji Naohara, Hiroaki Kakuma, Yuji Okita, Tatsuya Masui
  • Patent number: 10985038
    Abstract: In equipment that executes a drying process of forming a liquid membrane on a top surface of a substrate W which is held horizontally and gradually enlarging a dry area from which the liquid membrane has been removed, quality of the drying process is determined. Specifically, first, the top surface of the substrate is repeatedly imaged by an imaging unit during execution of the drying process. Then, it is determined whether the dry area is in a normal state based on a plurality of captured images acquired by the imaging. Accordingly, it is possible to quantitatively determine whether a dry area is in a normal state based on a plurality of captured images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideji Naohara, Hiroaki Kakuma, Yuji Okita, Tatsuya Masui
  • Patent number: 10665481
    Abstract: An upper processing liquid nozzle moves back and forth between a processing position above a substrate held on a spin chuck and a standby position outside a processing cup. Before a processing liquid is discharged from the upper processing liquid nozzle having moved to the processing position, a camera takes a discharge standard image of an imaging region including the tip of the upper processing liquid nozzle. Then, multiple monitor target images of the imaging region taken successively by the camera are compared sequentially to the discharge standard image to determine discharge of a processing liquid from the upper processing liquid nozzle. The discharge standard image is obtained for each process on a new target substrate. This eliminates influence of a substrate surface to appear as a background both of the monitor target image and the discharge standard image. Thus, discharge of a processing liquid can be detected reliably.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Sano, Hiroaki Kakuma
  • Patent number: 10651064
    Abstract: A substrate treatment device includes: a substrate rotation part that horizontally holds and rotates a substrate; a nozzle that supplies a treatment liquid to a surface to be treated of the substrate rotated by the substrate rotation part; an imaging part that captures an image of an imaging area including a plurality of target areas in which a liquid film is formed when the treatment liquid is supplied to the substrate; and a detection part that refers to an imaging result of the imaging part and detects a treatment ending time point of each of the target areas based on a change in luminance value for each of the target areas. Further, the imaging area includes at least an area on a center side of the surface to be treated and an area on an outer circumferential side of the surface to be treated as the target areas.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideji Naohara, Hiroaki Kakuma, Yuji Okita, Tatsuya Masui
  • Publication number: 20200111715
    Abstract: A substrate treatment method is provided, including: holding a substrate on a substrate holding unit; rotating the substrate holding unit to rotate the substrate; raising a cup member surrounding an outer periphery of the substrate holding unit to locate an upper end of the cup member in an upper end position higher than an upper surface of the substrate held on the substrate holding unit; discharging a treatment liquid from a discharge port of a nozzle located lower than the upper end position to an end portion of the upper surface of the substrate held on the substrate holding unit; an imaging process, acquiring captured images of an imaging region by a camera, wherein the imaging region contains the treatment liquid discharged from the discharge port and is seen from an imaging position above the substrate; and determining a discharge state of the treatment liquid based on the captured images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2019
    Publication date: April 9, 2020
    Applicant: SCREEN HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hideji NAOHARA, Yuji OKITA, Hiroaki KAKUMA, Tatsuya MASUI
  • Patent number: 10580163
    Abstract: A displacement detecting apparatus according to the invention comprises: a mover which moves and positions a positioning object; an imager which images an image including an imaging object which is the positioning object or an object displacing integrally with the positioning object as the positioning object is displaced; and a displacement detector which detects the imaging object from the image imaged by the imager and detects a displacement of the positioning object based on the position of the imaging object detected in the image, wherein the displacement detector obtains a displacement amount of the positioning object with respect to a predetermined reference position from a value obtained by multiplying a distance between the position of the imaging object and the reference position in the image by a coefficient determined according to size of the imaging object in the image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2020
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroaki Kakuma, Kazuhiro Kitamura
  • Patent number: 10402997
    Abstract: This invention is to provide a technique capable of detecting a displacement of a positioning object with respect to a reference position in an actual space with high accuracy. A position of an imaging object detected in an imaged image is converted into a displacement of the positioning object with respect to the reference position in the actual space based on conversion information representing a correlative relationship between the position of the imaging object in the image and the displacement of the positioning object from the reference position. The conversion information is determined in advance based on positions of the imaging object detected from a plurality of images respectively imaged with the positioning object positioned at each of a plurality of imaging positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Kitamura, Hiroaki Kakuma
  • Publication number: 20190259172
    Abstract: Provided is a technique for detecting whether or not there is a drop of a liquid in a non-supply period. There are performed the steps of: imaging in a non-supply period during which supply of liquid to a target nozzle among one or more nozzles is stopped while allowing an imaging visual field to include a dropping path through which the liquid drops from an opening of the target nozzle; and detecting whether or not there is a drop of the liquid using an imaging result in the imaging step. This enable detecting whether or not there is a drop of the liquid from the target nozzle in a non-supply period during which supply of the liquid toward the target nozzle is stopped.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2017
    Publication date: August 22, 2019
    Applicant: SCREEN HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroaki KAKUMA, Kensuke SAKATA
  • Publication number: 20190172737
    Abstract: In equipment that supplies a processing liquid on a top surface of a substrate while holding the substrate horizontally in a chamber a generation status of fumes is determined. Specifically, an image of a predetermined imaging area in the chamber is captured. Then, the generation status of fumes in the chamber is determined based on luminance values of the captured image acquired by the capturing of an image. Accordingly, it is possible to quantitatively determine whether a generation status of fumes in a chamber is normal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2018
    Publication date: June 6, 2019
    Applicant: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toru ENDO, Masayuki HAYASHI, Nobuyuki SHIBAYAMA, Hideji NAOHARA, Hiroaki KAKUMA, Yuji OKITA, Tatsuya MASUI
  • Publication number: 20190172732
    Abstract: In equipment that executes a drying process of forming a liquid membrane on a top surface of a substrate W which is held horizontally and gradually enlarging a dry area from which the liquid membrane has been removed, quality of the drying process is determined. Specifically, first, the top surface of the substrate is repeatedly imaged by an imaging unit during execution of the drying process. Then, it is determined whether the dry area is in a normal state based on a plurality of captured images acquired by the imaging. Accordingly, it is possible to quantitatively determine whether a dry area is in a normal state based on a plurality of captured images.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2018
    Publication date: June 6, 2019
    Applicant: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideji NAOHARA, Hiroaki KAKUMA, Yuji OKITA, Tatsuya MASUI
  • Publication number: 20190096720
    Abstract: A substrate treatment device includes: a substrate rotation part that horizontally holds and rotates a substrate; a nozzle that supplies a treatment liquid to a surface to be treated of the substrate rotated by the substrate rotation part; an imaging part that captures an image of an imaging area including a plurality of target areas in which a liquid film is formed when the treatment liquid is supplied to the substrate; and a detection part that refers to an imaging result of the imaging part and detects a treatment ending time point of each of the target areas based on a change in luminance value for each of the target areas. Further, the imaging area includes at least an area on a center side of the surface to be treated and an area on an outer circumferential side of the surface to be treated as the target areas.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2018
    Publication date: March 28, 2019
    Inventors: Hideji NAOHARA, Hiroaki KAKUMA, Yuji OKITA, Tatsuya MASUI
  • Publication number: 20180323085
    Abstract: An upper processing liquid nozzle moves back and forth between a processing position above a substrate held on a spin chuck and a standby position outside a processing cup. Before a processing liquid is discharged from the upper processing liquid nozzle having moved to the processing position, a camera takes a discharge standard image of an imaging region including the tip of the upper processing liquid nozzle. Then, multiple monitor target images of the imaging region taken successively by the camera are compared sequentially to the discharge standard image to determine discharge of a processing liquid from the upper processing liquid nozzle. The discharge standard image is obtained for each process on a new target substrate. This eliminates influence of a substrate surface to appear as a background both of the monitor target image and the discharge standard image. Thus, discharge of a processing liquid can be detected reliably.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 19, 2018
    Publication date: November 8, 2018
    Inventors: Hiroshi SANO, Hiroaki KAKUMA