Patents by Inventor Junichiro Sakata

Junichiro Sakata 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: 10529556
    Abstract: An object is to provide a deposition method in which a gallium oxide film is formed by a DC sputtering method. Another object is to provide a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using a gallium oxide film as an insulating layer such as a gate insulating layer of a transistor. An insulating film is formed by a DC sputtering method or a pulsed DC sputtering method, using an oxide target including gallium oxide (also referred to as GaOX). The oxide target includes GaOX, and X is less than 1.5, preferably more than or equal to 0.01 and less than or equal to 0.5, further preferably more than or equal to 0.1 and less than or equal to 0.2. The oxide target has conductivity, and sputtering is performed in an oxygen gas atmosphere or a mixed atmosphere of an oxygen gas and a rare gas such as argon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Junichiro Sakata, Makoto Furuno
  • Publication number: 20200006393
    Abstract: It is an object to manufacture a highly reliable display device using a thin film transistor having favorable electric characteristics and high reliability as a switching element. In a bottom gate thin film transistor including an amorphous oxide semiconductor, an oxide conductive layer having a crystal region is formed between an oxide semiconductor layer which has been dehydrated or dehydrogenated by heat treatment and each of a source electrode layer and a drain electrode layer which are formed using a metal material. Accordingly, contact resistance between the oxide semiconductor layer and each of the source electrode layer and the drain electrode layer can be reduced; thus, a thin film transistor having favorable electric characteristics and a highly reliable display device using the thin film transistor can be provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2019
    Publication date: January 2, 2020
    Inventors: Shunpei YAMAZAKI, Toshinari SASAKI, Junichiro SAKATA, Masashi TSUBUKU
  • Publication number: 20190371824
    Abstract: An object is to control composition and a defect of an oxide semiconductor, another object is to increase a field effect mobility of a thin film transistor and to obtain a sufficient on-off ratio with a reduced off current. A solution is to employ an oxide semiconductor whose composition is represented by InMO3(ZnO)m, where M is one or a plurality of elements selected from Ga, Fe, Ni, Mn, Co, and Al, and m is preferably a non-integer number of greater than 0 and less than 1. The concentration of Zn is lower than the concentrations of In and M. The oxide semiconductor has an amorphous structure. Oxide and nitride layers can be provided to prevent pollution and degradation of the oxide semiconductor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2019
    Publication date: December 5, 2019
    Inventors: Shunichi ITO, Toshinari SASAKI, Miyuki HOSOBA, Junichiro SAKATA
  • Patent number: 10490420
    Abstract: A semiconductor device for high power application in which a novel semiconductor material having high mass productivity is provided. An oxide semiconductor film is formed, and then, first heat treatment is performed on the exposed oxide semiconductor film in order to reduce impurities such as moisture or hydrogen in the oxide semiconductor film. Next, in order to further reduce impurities such as moisture or hydrogen in the oxide semiconductor film, oxygen is added to the oxide semiconductor film by an ion implantation method, an ion doping method, or the like, and after that, second heat treatment is performed on the exposed oxide semiconductor film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Junichiro Sakata, Hiroki Ohara
  • Patent number: 10490618
    Abstract: The present invention provides a light-emitting device comprising a first light-emitting element that emits red light, a second light-emitting element that emits green light, a third light-emitting element that emits blue light, and a color filter, where the color filter comprises a first coloring layer that selectively transmits red light, a second coloring layer that selectively transmits green light, and a third coloring layer that selectively transmits blue light, the first to third light-emitting elements respectively correspond to the first to third coloring layers, wherein each of the first to third light-emitting elements has a first electrode, an electroluminescent layer on the first electrode, and a second electrode on the electroluminescent layer, and wherein the electroluminescent layer includes a layer in contact with the second electrode, and a metal oxide or a benzoxazole derivative is included in the layer in contact with the second electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Junichiro Sakata, Hisao Ikeda, Yasuo Nakamura, Keiko Saito
  • Publication number: 20190355592
    Abstract: An object is to provide a display device with excellent display characteristics, where a pixel circuit and a driver circuit provided over one substrate are formed using transistors which have different structures corresponding to characteristics of the respective circuits. The driver circuit portion includes a driver circuit transistor in which a gate electrode layer, a source electrode layer, and a drain electrode layer are formed using a metal film, and a channel layer is formed using an oxide semiconductor. The pixel portion includes a pixel transistor in which a gate electrode layer, a source electrode layer, and a drain electrode layer are formed using an oxide conductor, and a semiconductor layer is formed using an oxide semiconductor. The pixel transistor is formed using a light-transmitting material, and thus, a display device with higher aperture ratio can be manufactured.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2019
    Publication date: November 21, 2019
    Inventors: Shunpei YAMAZAKI, Junichiro SAKATA, Masashi TSUBUKU, Kengo AKIMOTO, Miyuki HOSOBA, Masayuki SAKAKURA, Yoshiaki OIKAWA
  • Publication number: 20190348285
    Abstract: An object is to provide a high reliable semiconductor device including a thin film transistor having stable electric characteristics. In a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device including a thin film transistor in which an oxide semiconductor film is used for a semiconductor layer including a channel formation region, heat treatment (which is for dehydration or dehydrogenation) is performed so as to improve the purity of the oxide semiconductor film and reduce impurities such as moisture. Besides impurities such as moisture existing in the oxide semiconductor film, heat treatment causes reduction of impurities such as moisture existing in the gate insulating layer and those in interfaces between the oxide semiconductor film and films which are provided over and below the oxide semiconductor film and are in contact with the oxide semiconductor film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 23, 2019
    Publication date: November 14, 2019
    Inventors: Toshinari SASAKI, Junichiro SAKATA, Hiroki OHARA, Shunpei YAMAZAKI
  • Patent number: 10461098
    Abstract: An aperture ratio of a semiconductor device is improved. A driver circuit and a pixel are provided over one substrate, and a first thin film transistor in the driver circuit and a second thin film transistor in the pixel each include a gate electrode layer, a gate insulating layer over the gate electrode layer, an oxide semiconductor layer over the gate insulating layer, source and drain electrode layers over the oxide semiconductor layer, and an oxide insulating layer in contact with part of the oxide semiconductor layer over the gate insulating layer, the oxide semiconductor layer, and the source and drain electrode layers. The gate electrode layer, the gate insulating layer, the oxide semiconductor layer, the source and drain electrode layers, and the oxide insulating layer of the second thin film transistor each have a light-transmitting property.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Junichiro Sakata, Hiroyuki Miyake, Hideaki Kuwabara, Tatsuya Takahashi
  • Patent number: 10439050
    Abstract: A hydrogen barrier layer is selectively provided over an oxide semiconductor layer including hydrogen and hydrogen is selectively desorbed from a given region in the oxide semiconductor layer by conducting oxidation treatment, so that regions with different conductivities are formed in the oxide semiconductor layer. After that, a channel formation region, a source region, and a drain region can be formed with the use of the regions with different conductivities formed in the oxide semiconductor layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Junichiro Sakata
  • Publication number: 20190305117
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a highly reliable semiconductor device which includes a thin film transistor having stable electric characteristics. It is another object to manufacture a highly reliable semiconductor device at lower cost with high productivity. In a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device which includes a thin film transistor where a semiconductor layer having a channel formation region, a source region, and a drain region are formed using an oxide semiconductor layer, heat treatment (heat treatment for dehydration or dehydrogenation) is performed so as to improve the purity of the oxide semiconductor layer and reduce impurities such as moisture. Moreover, the oxide semiconductor layer subjected to the heat treatment is slowly cooled under an oxygen atmosphere.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2019
    Publication date: October 3, 2019
    Inventors: Toshinari SASAKI, Junichiro SAKATA, Hiroki OHARA, Shunpei YAMAZAKI
  • Patent number: 10418491
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a highly reliable semiconductor device with good electrical characteristics and a display device including the semiconductor device as a switching element. In a transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer, a needle crystal group provided on at least one surface side of the oxide semiconductor layer grows in a c-axis direction perpendicular to the surface and includes an a-b plane parallel to the surface, and a portion except for the needle crystal group is an amorphous region or a region in which amorphousness and microcrystals are mixed. Accordingly, a highly reliable semiconductor device with good electrical characteristics can be formed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Masayuki Sakakura, Ryosuke Watanabe, Junichiro Sakata, Kengo Akimoto, Akiharu Miyanaga, Takuya Hirohashi, Hideyuki Kishida
  • Patent number: 10418467
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a highly reliable semiconductor device which includes a thin film transistor having stable electric characteristics. It is another object to manufacture a highly reliable semiconductor device at lower cost with high productivity. In a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device which includes a thin film transistor where a semiconductor layer having a channel formation region, a source region, and a drain region are formed using an oxide semiconductor layer, heat treatment (heat treatment for dehydration or dehydrogenation) is performed so as to improve the purity of the oxide semiconductor layer and reduce impurities such as moisture. Moreover, the oxide semiconductor layer subjected to the heat treatment is slowly cooled under an oxygen atmosphere.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshinari Sasaki, Junichiro Sakata, Hiroki Ohara, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 10418384
    Abstract: It is an object to manufacture a highly reliable display device using a thin film transistor having favorable electric characteristics and high reliability as a switching element. In a bottom gate thin film transistor including an amorphous oxide semiconductor, an oxide conductive layer having a crystal region is formed between an oxide semiconductor layer which has been dehydrated or dehydrogenated by heat treatment and each of a source electrode layer and a drain electrode layer which are formed using a metal material. Accordingly, contact resistance between the oxide semiconductor layer and each of the source electrode layer and the drain electrode layer can be reduced; thus, a thin film transistor having favorable electric characteristics and a highly reliable display device using the thin film transistor can be provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Toshinari Sasaki, Junichiro Sakata, Masashi Tsubuku
  • Patent number: 10403763
    Abstract: It is an object to provide an oxide semiconductor which is suitable for use in a semiconductor device. Alternatively, it is another object to provide a semiconductor device using the oxide semiconductor. Provided is a semiconductor device including an In—Ga—Zn—O based oxide semiconductor layer in a channel formation region of a transistor. In the semiconductor device, the In—Ga—Zn—O based oxide semiconductor layer has a structure in which crystal grains represented by InGaO3(ZnO)m (m=1) are included in an amorphous structure represented by InGaO3(ZnO)m (m>0).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kengo Akimoto, Junichiro Sakata, Takuya Hirohashi, Masahiro Takahashi, Hideyuki Kishida, Akiharu Miyanaga
  • Patent number: 10373843
    Abstract: An object is to provide a display device with excellent display characteristics, where a pixel circuit and a driver circuit provided over one substrate are formed using transistors which have different structures corresponding to characteristics of the respective circuits. The driver circuit portion includes a driver circuit transistor in which a gate electrode layer, a source electrode layer, and a drain electrode layer are formed using a metal film, and a channel layer is formed using an oxide semiconductor. The pixel portion includes a pixel transistor in which a gate electrode layer, a source electrode layer, and a drain electrode layer are formed using an oxide conductor, and a semiconductor layer is formed using an oxide semiconductor. The pixel transistor is formed using a light-transmitting material, and thus, a display device with higher aperture ratio can be manufactured.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Junichiro Sakata, Masashi Tsubuku, Kengo Akimoto, Miyuki Hosoba, Masayuki Sakakura, Yoshiaki Oikawa
  • Publication number: 20190214499
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a highly reliable semiconductor device including a thin film transistor with stable electric characteristics. In a semiconductor device including an inverted staggered thin film transistor whose semiconductor layer is an oxide semiconductor layer, a buffer layer is provided over the oxide semiconductor layer. The buffer layer is in contact with a channel formation region of the semiconductor layer and source and drain electrode layers. A film of the buffer layer has resistance distribution. A region provided over the channel formation region of the semiconductor layer has lower electrical conductivity than the channel formation region of the semiconductor layer, and a region in contact with the source and drain electrode layers has higher electrical conductivity than the channel formation region of the semiconductor layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2019
    Publication date: July 11, 2019
    Inventors: Junichiro SAKATA, Takuya HIROHASHI, Hideyuki KISHIDA
  • Patent number: 10332743
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a highly reliable semiconductor device which includes a thin film transistor having stable electric characteristics. It is another object to manufacture a highly reliable semiconductor device at lower cost with high productivity. In a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device which includes a thin film transistor where a semiconductor layer including a channel formation region using an oxide semiconductor layer, a source region, and a drain region are formed using an oxide semiconductor layer, heat treatment for reducing impurities such as moisture (heat treatment for dehydration or dehydrogenation) is performed so as to improve the purity of the oxide semiconductor layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshinari Sasaki, Junichiro Sakata, Hiroki Ohara, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 10332996
    Abstract: A semiconductor device for high power application in which a novel semiconductor material having high mass productivity is provided. An oxide semiconductor film is formed, and then, first heat treatment is performed on the exposed oxide semiconductor film in order to reduce impurities such as moisture or hydrogen in the oxide semiconductor film. Next, in order to further reduce impurities such as moisture or hydrogen in the oxide semiconductor film, oxygen is added to the oxide semiconductor film by an ion implantation method, an ion doping method, or the like, and after that, second heat treatment is performed on the exposed oxide semiconductor film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Junichiro Sakata, Hiroki Ohara
  • Publication number: 20190172849
    Abstract: An object is to provide a display device which operates stably with use of a transistor having stable electric characteristics. In manufacture of a display device using transistors in which an oxide semiconductor layer is used for a channel formation region, a gate electrode is further provided over at least a transistor which is applied to a driver circuit. In manufacture of a transistor in which an oxide semiconductor layer is used for a channel formation region, the oxide semiconductor layer is subjected to heat treatment so as to be dehydrated or dehydrogenated; thus, impurities such as moisture existing in an interface between the oxide semiconductor layer and the gate insulating layer provided below and in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer and an interface between the oxide semiconductor layer and a protective insulating layer provided on and in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer can be reduced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 7, 2019
    Publication date: June 6, 2019
    Inventors: Junichiro SAKATA, Toshinari SASAKI, Miyuki HOSOBA
  • Publication number: 20190148473
    Abstract: The present invention provides a light-emitting device comprising a first light-emitting element that emits red light, a second light-emitting element that emits green light, a third light-emitting element that emits blue light, and a color filter, where the color filter comprises a first coloring layer that selectively transmits red light, a second coloring layer that selectively transmits green light, and a third coloring layer that selectively transmits blue light, the first to third light-emitting elements respectively correspond to the first to third coloring layers, wherein each of the first to third light-emitting elements has a first electrode, an electroluminescent layer on the first electrode, and a second electrode on the electroluminescent layer, and wherein the electroluminescent layer includes a layer in contact with the second electrode, and a metal oxide or a benzoxazole derivative is included in the layer in contact with the second electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Publication date: May 16, 2019
    Inventors: Shunpei YAMAZAKI, Junichiro SAKATA, Hisao IKEDA, Yasuo NAKAMURA, Keiko SAITO