Patents by Inventor Hiroyuki Toshima

Hiroyuki Toshima 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: 11851750
    Abstract: An apparatus for performing a sputtering process on a substrate is provided. The apparatus includes a processing chamber having a substrate support on which the substrate is placed, a target for emitting target particles to be adhered to the substrate by plasma formed in the processing chamber, a magnet, provided on a rear surface of the target, for adjusting a state of the plasma on the surface of the target, and a magnet moving mechanism for repeatedly moving the magnet between a position on one side and a position on the other side set across a center portion on the rear surface of the target. The apparatus further includes a collimator having two regulating plates for limiting an incident angle of the target particles to the substrate, and an arrangement position adjustment mechanism adjusting positions of the two regulating plates according to the movement of the magnet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Masato Shinada, Einstein Noel Abarra, Hiroyuki Toshima, Shota Ishibashi
  • Patent number: 11742190
    Abstract: A sputtering apparatus includes a first target and a second target that emit sputter particles, a substrate support configured to support a substrate, and a slit plate disposed between the first and the second targets and the substrate and having a slit unit through which the sputter particles pass. The slit unit includes a first slit to the first and the second target side and a second slit to the substrate side. The second slit has a first protrusion and a second protrusion protruding toward the center of the second slit. When the slit unit is viewed from the first target, the first protrusion is hidden. When the slit unit is viewed from the second target, the second protrusion is hidden.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Einstein Noel Abarra, Hiroyuki Toshima, Shota Ishibashi, Hiroyuki Iwashita, Tatsuo Hirasawa, Masato Shinada
  • Patent number: 11705315
    Abstract: A sputtering apparatus is provided. The sputtering apparatus comprises a vacuum chamber in which a substrate is located; a target having one surface facing an inner surface of the vacuum chamber; a gas supplier configured to supply a gas for generating plasma in the vacuum chamber; a power supplier configured to supply a power to the target to generate the plasma, sputter the target, and form a film on the substrate; and an abnormality detector configured to detect abnormality caused by a temperature of the target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Shota Ishibashi, Hiroyuki Toshima
  • Patent number: 11664207
    Abstract: A film-forming apparatus comprises: a processing chamber defining a processing space, a first sputter-particle emitter and a second sputter-particle emitter having targets, respectively, from which sputter-particles are emitted in different oblique directions in the processing space, a sputter-particle blocking plate having a passage hole through which the sputter particles emitted from the first sputter-particle emitter and the second sputter-particle emitter pass, a substrate support configured to support a substrate and provided at a side opposite the first sputter-particle emitter and the second sputter-particle emitter with respect to the sputter-particle blocking plate in the processing space, a substrate moving mechanism configured to linearly move the substrate supported on the substrate support, and a controller configured to control the emission of sputter-particles from the first sputter-particle emitter and the second sputter-particle emitter while controlling the substrate moving mechanism to mov
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Masato Shinada, Hiroyuki Toshima
  • Publication number: 20230051865
    Abstract: The PVD apparatus includes a chamber, a plurality of stages, a first target holder, a power supply mechanism, and a shield. The plurality of stages are provided inside the chamber, and each of the plurality of stages is configured to place at least one substrate on an upper surface thereof. The first target holder is configured to hold at least one target provided for one stage, the target being exposed to a space inside the chamber. The power supply mechanism supplies power to the target via the first target holder. The shield is provided inside the chamber and a part of the shield is disposed between a first stage and a second stage in the plurality of stages, and between a first processing space on the first stage and a second processing space on the second stage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2022
    Publication date: February 16, 2023
    Applicant: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Takuya SEINO, Yasushi KODASHIMA, Naoki WATANABE, Hiroyuki TOSHIMA, Masato SHINADA, Tetsuya MIYASHITA
  • Patent number: 11551930
    Abstract: Embodiments are described herein to reshape spacer profiles to improve spacer uniformity and thereby improve etch uniformity during pattern transfer associated with self-aligned multiple-patterning (SAMP) processes. For disclosed embodiments, cores are formed on a material layer for a substrate of a microelectronic workpiece. A spacer material layer is then formed over the cores. Symmetric spacers are then formed adjacent the cores by reshaping the spacer material layer using one or more directional deposition processes to deposit additional spacer material and using one or more etch process steps. For one example embodiment, one or more oblique physical vapor deposition (PVD) processes are used to deposit the additional spacer material for the spacer profile reshaping. This reshaping of the spacer profiles allows for symmetric spacers to be formed thereby improving etch uniformity during subsequent pattern transfer processes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2023
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Akiteru Ko, Kazuya Okubo, Hiroyuki Toshima
  • Patent number: 11512388
    Abstract: There is provided a film forming apparatus, including: a processing chamber having a processing space in which a film forming process is performed on a substrate; a substrate support part configured to support the substrate inside the processing chamber; at least one sputtering particle emission part including a target and configured to emit sputtering particles to the substrate from the target; and at least one etching particle emission part configured to emit etching particles having an etching action with respect to the substrate, wherein the sputtering particles emitted from the at least one sputtering particle emission part are deposited on the substrate to form a film, and a portion of the film is etched by the etching particles emitted from the at least one etching particle emission part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Masato Shinada, Hiroyuki Toshima
  • Patent number: 11495446
    Abstract: A film formation device includes a target holder configured to hold a target for emitting sputtering particles in a processing space inside a processing chamber, a sputtering particle emitting part configured to emit the sputtering particles from the target, a sputtering particle shielding plate having a passage hole through which the emitted sputtering particles pass, a shielding member provided to shield the passage hole, a movement mechanism configured to move the shielding member in the horizontal direction, and a controller. The controller controls the shielding member, which has the placement portion on which a substrate is placed, to be moved in one direction of the horizontal direction, and controls the sputtering particles to be emitted from the target. The sputtering particles passed through the passage hole are deposited on the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2022
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Masato Shinada, Hiroyuki Toshima, Einstein Noel Abarra
  • Patent number: 11479848
    Abstract: A film forming apparatus includes a target holder that holds a target facing a substrate and extending in a predetermined direction on a horizontal plane, a magnet unit including a pair of magnet assemblies each having magnets and disposed at a back side of the target holder, a pair of shielding members disposed between the target and the substrate to extend from the target toward the substrate, and a moving mechanism configured to reciprocate the magnet unit between one end and the other end in the predetermined direction. The magnet assemblies are arranged along the predetermined direction, and each of the shielding members is disposed, in plan view, on a boundary line between a first region where only one of the magnet assemblies passes during a reciprocating motion of the magnet unit and a second region where both of the magnet assemblies pass therethrough during the reciprocating motion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2022
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Shota Ishibashi, Hiroyuki Toshima, Hiroyuki Iwashita, Tatsuo Hirasawa
  • Patent number: 11469106
    Abstract: In one embodiment, this hard mask for plasma etching is formed on a silicon-containing film. The hard mask is an amorphous film, and contains tungsten and silicon. The ratio of the concentration of tungsten and the concentration of silicon in the surface of the hard mask can be within the range between a ratio specifying that the concentration of tungsten is 35 at % and the concentration of silicon is 65 at % and a ratio specifying that the concentration of tungsten is 50 at % and the concentration of silicon is 50 at %.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2022
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Toshima, Shinji Furukawa
  • Patent number: 11410837
    Abstract: A film-forming device according to one embodiment includes a chamber body, a support, a moving device, a shielding member, a first holder and a second holder, in the film-forming device, a substrate supported by the support is linearly moved. The shielding member is disposed above an area where the substrate is moved, and includes a slit extending in a direction perpendicular to a movement direction of the substrate. The first holder and the second holder hold a first target and a second target, respectively, above the shielding member. The first target and the second target are arranged symmetrically with respect to a vertical plane including a linear path on which the center of the substrate is moved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Toshima, Tatsuo Hatano, Tetsuya Miyashita, Shinji Furukawa, Junichi Takei
  • Publication number: 20220148863
    Abstract: A sputtering apparatus is provided. The sputtering apparatus comprises a vacuum chamber in which a substrate is located; a target having one surface facing an inner surface of the vacuum chamber; a gas supplier configured to supply a gas for generating plasma in the vacuum chamber; a power supplier configured to supply a power to the target to generate the plasma, sputter the target, and form a film on the substrate; and an abnormality detector configured to detect abnormality caused by a temperature of the target.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 10, 2021
    Publication date: May 12, 2022
    Inventors: Shota ISHIBASHI, Hiroyuki TOSHIMA
  • Publication number: 20220081757
    Abstract: A film forming apparatus is provided. The apparatus comprises a processing chamber accommodating a plurality of substrates; a plurality of substrate supporting units disposed in the processing chamber and configured to place the substrates thereon; a substrate moving mechanism configured to linearly move the substrate supporting units in a first direction; sputter particle emitting units, each having a target for emitting sputter particles into the processing chamber; and a controller configured to control the sputter particle emitting units and the substrate moving mechanism. The controller controls the substrate moving mechanism to linearly move the substrate supporting units on which the substrates are placed in the first direction and controls the sputter particle emitting units to emit sputter particles to be deposited on the substrates.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2021
    Publication date: March 17, 2022
    Inventors: Masato Shinada, Naoki Watanabe, Tetsuya Miyashita, Hiroyuki Toshima, Einstein Noel Abarra, Shota Ishibashi
  • Publication number: 20220044920
    Abstract: A sputtering apparatus includes a first target and a second target that emit sputter particles, a substrate support configured to support a substrate, and a slit plate disposed between the first and the second targets and the substrate and having a slit unit through which the sputter particles pass. The slit unit includes a first slit to the first and the second target side and a second slit to the substrate side. The second slit has a first protrusion and a second protrusion protruding toward the center of the second slit. When the slit unit is viewed from the first target, the first protrusion is hidden. When the slit unit is viewed from the second target, the second protrusion is hidden.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2021
    Publication date: February 10, 2022
    Inventors: Einstein Noel ABARRA, Hiroyuki TOSHIMA, Shota ISHIBASHI, Hiroyuki IWASHITA, Tatsuo HIRASAWA, Masato SHINADA
  • Publication number: 20220025511
    Abstract: An apparatus for performing a sputtering process on a substrate is provided. The apparatus includes a processing chamber having a substrate support on which the substrate is placed, a target for emitting target particles to be adhered to the substrate by plasma formed in the processing chamber, a magnet, provided on a rear surface of the target, for adjusting a state of the plasma on the surface of the target, and a magnet moving mechanism for repeatedly moving the magnet between a position on one side and a position on the other side set across a center portion on the rear surface of the target. The apparatus further includes a collimator having two regulating plates for limiting an incident angle of the target particles to the substrate, and an arrangement position adjustment mechanism adjusting positions of the two regulating plates according to the movement of the magnet.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2021
    Publication date: January 27, 2022
    Inventors: Masato SHINADA, Einstein Noel ABARRA, Hiroyuki TOSHIMA, Shota ISHIBASHI
  • Patent number: 11158492
    Abstract: A film forming apparatus for forming a film by reactive sputtering includes a processing chamber, a sputter mechanism, a sputtered particle shielding member, a reaction chamber, a substrate support, a substrate moving mechanism, a sputtered particle passage hole, and a reactive gas introducing unit. While moving a substrate by the substrate moving mechanism, sputtered particles, that are released to the discharge space by the sputter mechanism and pass through the sputtered particle passage hole to be injected to the reaction chamber, are reacted with a reactive gas introduced into the reaction chamber, and a reactive sputtering film generated by the reaction is formed on the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 26, 2021
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Toshima, Hiroyuki Iwashita, Tatsuo Hirasawa
  • Publication number: 20210305032
    Abstract: There is provided a substrate processing method of a substrate processing apparatus. The substrate processing apparatus includes at least two targets, magnet-moving mechanisms disposed in one-to-one correspondence with the at least two targets, each of the magnet-moving mechanisms being configured to reciprocate a magnet in a first direction on a back surface of each target, and a substrate moving mechanism configured to move a substrate in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. The method includes causing the magnet-moving mechanisms to reciprocate the magnets at different phases with each other.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 19, 2021
    Publication date: September 30, 2021
    Inventors: Shota ISHIBASHI, Hiroyuki TOSHIMA, Hiroyuki IWASHITA, Tatsuo HIRASAWA
  • Publication number: 20210296103
    Abstract: An example of a sputtering apparatus comprises a first target and a second target that emit sputter particles, a substrate support configured to support a substrate, a shielding plate disposed between the first and the second target and the substrate and having a through-hole through which the sputter particles pass, and an obstructing mechanism. The through-hole has a first opening region through which the sputter particles emitted from the fit target pass and a second opening region through which the sputter particles emitted from the second target pass, and the obstructing mechanism is configured to obstruct the sputter particles emitted from the first target in passing through the second opening region and the sputter particles emitted in the second target from passing through the first opening region.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 19, 2021
    Publication date: September 23, 2021
    Inventors: Shota ISHIBASHI, Tatsuo HIRASAWA, Hiroyuki TOSHIMA, Hiroyuki IWASHITA
  • Publication number: 20210207261
    Abstract: A film forming apparatus includes a target holder that holds a target facing a substrate and extending in a predetermined direction on a horizontal plane, a magnet unit including a pair of magnet assemblies each having magnets and disposed at a back side of the target holder, a pair of shielding members disposed between the target and the substrate to extend from the target toward the substrate, and a moving mechanism configured to reciprocate the magnet unit between one end and the other end in the predetermined direction. The magnet assemblies are arranged along the predetermined direction, and each of the shielding members is disposed, in plan view, on a boundary line between a first region where only one of the magnet assemblies passes during a reciprocating motion of the magnet unit and a second region where both of the magnet assemblies pass therethrough during the reciprocating motion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 7, 2021
    Publication date: July 8, 2021
    Inventors: Shota ISHIBASHI, Hiroyuki TOSHIMA, Hiroyuki IWASHITA, Tatsuo HIRASAWA
  • Publication number: 20210118653
    Abstract: A film formation device includes a target holder configured to hold a target for emitting sputtering particles in a processing space inside a processing chamber, a sputtering particle emitting part configured to emit the sputtering particles from the target, a sputtering particle shielding plate having a passage hole through which the emitted sputtering particles pass, a shielding member provided to shield the passage hole, a movement mechanism configured to move the shielding member in the horizontal direction, and a controller. The controller controls the shielding member, which has the placement portion on which a substrate is placed, to be moved in one direction of the horizontal direction, and controls the sputtering particles to be emitted from the target. The sputtering particles passed through the passage hole are deposited on the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 20, 2019
    Publication date: April 22, 2021
    Inventors: Masato SHINADA, Hiroyuki TOSHIMA, Einstein Noel ABARRA