Patents by Inventor Kaoru Umemura

Kaoru Umemura 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).

  • Publication number: 20080296497
    Abstract: A system for analyzing a semiconductor device, including: a first ion beam apparatus including: a sample stage to mount a sample substrate; a vacuum chamber in which the sample stage is placed; an ion beam irradiating optical system to irradiate the sample substrate; a specimen holder that accommodates a plurality of specimens separated from the sample substrate by the irradiation of the ion beam; and a probe to extract the separated specimen from the sample substrate, and to transfer the separated specimen to the specimen holder; a second ion beam apparatus that carries out a finishing process to the specimen; and an analyzer to analyze the finished specimen, wherein the first ion beam apparatus separates the specimen and the probe in a vacuum condition.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2008
    Publication date: December 4, 2008
    Inventors: Satoshi TOMIMATSU, Kaoru Umemura, Yuichi Madokoro, Yoshimi Kawanami, Yasunori Doi
  • Publication number: 20080296516
    Abstract: A specimen fabrication apparatus, including: an ion beam irradiating optical system to irradiate a sample placed in a chamber with an ion beam; a specimen holder to mount a specimen separated by the irradiation with the ion beam; a holder cassette to hold the specimen holder; a sample stage to hold, the sample and the holder cassette; and a probe to move the specimen to the specimen holder, wherein the holder cassette is transferred to outside of the chamber in a condition of holding the specimen holder with the specimen mounted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2008
    Publication date: December 4, 2008
    Inventors: Satoshi TOMIMATSU, Kaoru Umemura, Yuichi Madokoro, Yoshimi Kawanami, Yasunori Doi
  • Publication number: 20080283778
    Abstract: The apparatus for ion beam fabrication, which has been able to detect any anomalous condition of ion beams only by means of the current irradiated on the specimen, could not compensate the failure by investigating the cause and could not realize stable processing. To solve the problem described above, the present invention includes the first and second blankers and Faraday cups switches ON and OFF the first and second blankers and monitors beam current at two positions above and below the projection mask. By adopting this configuration, it will be possible to acquire the information on failure in ion beam, sort out the cause of the failure and to compensate the failure while limiting damages to the projection mask. As a result, it will be possible to realize stable processing by means of ion beam, and to use the ion beam fabricating device on a stable basis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 20, 2007
    Publication date: November 20, 2008
    Inventors: Satoshi Tomimatsu, Hiroyasu Shichi, Noriyuki Kaneoka, Kaoru Umemura, Koji Ishiguro
  • Patent number: 7435972
    Abstract: In an aperture for use in an ion beam optical system having its surface coated with a liquid metal, instability of an ion source attributable to sputtering and re-deposition of an aperture base material is prevented. A focused ion beam apparatus using a liquid metal ion source has an aperture for limiting an ion beam diameter. The aperture has a vessel formed with a recess having, at its surface lowermost point, an aperture hole through which the ion beam passes and a liquid metal mounted on the recess, the liquid metal being used for the liquid metal ion source. Preferably, the aperture may be minimized in area of aperture entrance hole inner surface which exposes the base material by tapering an aperture hole portion, by which the ion beam passes, on the downstream side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Yuichi Madokoro, Shigeru Izawa, Kaoru Umemura, Hiroyasu Kaga
  • Publication number: 20080237459
    Abstract: An ion source includes a body having a gas passage and an orifice. A capillary is inserted into the gas passage so that a tip portion of the capillary extends into the orifice. A gas supplier supplies a gas into the gas passage to form a gas flow through the gas passage along the capillary and through the orifice past a tip of the capillary so that the gas flow sprays a sample solution flowing through the capillary from the tip of the capillary. A flow controller regulates a pressure of the gas in the gas passage to adjust a characteristic value F/S to a predetermined value, where F is a flow rate of the gas flow at standard conditions (20.degree. C., 1 atmosphere), and S is a difference between a cross section of the orifice and a cross section of the tip portion of the capillary in the orifice.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 18, 2008
    Publication date: October 2, 2008
    Inventors: Atsumu Hirabayashi, Minoru Sakairi, Yasuaki Takada, Hideaki Koizumi, Kaoru Umemura
  • Patent number: 7423825
    Abstract: A disk unit is capable of detecting a track, the track width of which deviates from a normal value, with high accuracy at high speed. A HDD includes a read head, a disk and defective-track detecting part. The disk has servo data including bursts A, B written thereon. The servo data is used to position the read head to a track center. The defective-track detecting part detects a defective track as below. The sum of the amplitude of bursts A and B, which have been read by the read head by one read operation, is divided by the amplitude of a burst C or D to obtain a compared value. If the compared value deviates from a criterion by a specified percentage or more, it is judged that the track width of a track is abnormal. Since bursts A through D are written without trimming, the size of bursts A through D in the track width direction are kept constant regardless of the track width. Accordingly, a gap G fluctuating in accordance with the track width is formed in the radial direction between bursts A and B.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2005
    Date of Patent: September 9, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Naoki Shimamura, Osama Takazawa, Kaoru Umemura, Kazuhiko Washizu
  • Publication number: 20080210883
    Abstract: An emitter of a Ga liquid metal ion source is constituted to include W12 of a base material and Ga9 of an ion source element covering a surface as construction materials. By making back-sputtered particles become elements (W and Ga) of the Ga liquid metal ion sour source, if back-sputtered particles attach to the Ga liquid metal ion source, contamination which may change physical characteristics of Ga9 does not occur. A W aperture is used as a beam limiting (GUN) aperture to place Ga of approx. 25 mg (of melting point of 30° C.) on a surface of a portion included in a beam emission region (Ga store). When emitting ions to the beam limiting (GUN) aperture, Ga in the emission region melts and diffuses on a surface of the beam emission region of the W aperture.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 19, 2008
    Publication date: September 4, 2008
    Applicant: HITACHI HIGH-TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Kaga, Yuichi Madokoro, Shigeru Izawa, Tohru Ishitani, Kaoru Umemura
  • Patent number: 7420181
    Abstract: An emitter of a Ga liquid metal ion source is constituted to include W12 of a base material and Ga9 of an ion source element covering a surface as construction materials. By making back-sputtered particles become elements (W and Ga) of the Ga liquid metal ion sour source, if back-sputtered particles attach to the Ga liquid metal ion source, contamination which may change physical characteristics of Ga9 does not occur. A W aperture is used as a beam limiting (GUN) aperture to place Ga of approx. 25 mg (of melting point of 30° C.) on a surface of a portion included in a beam emission region (Ga store). When emitting ions to the beam limiting (GUN) aperture, Ga in the emission region melts and diffuses on a surface of the beam emission region of the W aperture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 2, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Kaga, Yuichi Madokoro, Shigeru Izawa, Tohru Ishitani, Kaoru Umemura
  • Publication number: 20080191151
    Abstract: A sample fabricating method of irradiating a sample with a focused ion beam at an incident angle less than 90 degrees with respect to the surface of the sample, eliminating the peripheral area of a micro sample as a target, turning a specimen stage around a line segment perpendicular to the sample surface as a turn axis, irradiating the sample with the focused ion beam while the incident angle on the sample surface is fixed, and separating the micro sample or preparing the micro sample to be separated. A sample fabricating apparatus for forming a sample section in a sample held on a specimen stage by scanning and deflecting an ion beam, wherein an angle between an optical axis of the ion beam and the surface of the specimen stage is fixed and formation of a sample section is controlled by turning the specimen stage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 5, 2007
    Publication date: August 14, 2008
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Shichi, Tohru Ishitani, Hidemi Koike, Kaoru Umemura, Eiichi Seya, Mitsuo Tokuda, Satoshi Tomimatsu, Hideo Kashima, Muneyuki Fukuda
  • Patent number: 7397052
    Abstract: A system for analyzing a semiconductor device, including: a first specimen fabricating apparatus including: a vacuum chamber in which a sample substrate is placed, an ion beam irradiating optical system for forming a specimen on the sample substrate, a specimen holder to mount the specimen, and a probe for removing the specimen from the sample substrate; a second specimen fabricating apparatus, and an analyzer to analyze the specimen, wherein said first specimen fabrication apparatus has a function to separate the specimen mounted on the specimen holder and the probe in a vacuum condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Tomimatsu, Kaoru Umemura, Yuichi Madokoro, Yoshimi Kawanami, Yasunori Doi
  • Patent number: 7397050
    Abstract: A specimen fabrication apparatus, including: an ion beam irradiating optical system to irradiate a sample placed in a chamber, with an ion beam, a specimen holder to mount a specimen separated by the irradiation of the ion beam, a holder cassette to hold the specimen holder, and a sample stage to hold the sample and the holder cassette, wherein said holder cassette is transferred to outside of the chamber in a condition of holding said specimen holder with the specimen mounted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Tomimatsu, Kaoru Umemura, Yuichi Madokoro, Yoshimi Kawanami, Yasunori Doi
  • Patent number: 7397051
    Abstract: A specimen fabrication apparatus including: a vacuum chamber that accommodates a sample stage to mount a sample, an irradiating optical system that irradiates a focused ion beam to the sample to form a specimen, and a specimen holder placed in the vacuum chamber, to which said formed specimen is transferred by transferring means while the specimen chamber remains substantially sealed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Tomimatsu, Kaoru Umemura, Yuichi Madokoro, Yoshimi Kawanami, Yasunori Doi
  • Patent number: 7368729
    Abstract: A method and system for separating and preparing a sample for analysis from a wafer without contaminating the wafer with an element such as Ga. A first ion beam is irradiated on a sample and scanned to fabricate a micro sample from a part of the sample. A probe for separating the micro sample from the sample and a micro-sample stage on which the micro sample is to be placed and held are provided. The first ion beam contains at least one of an inert gas, oxygen and nitrogen as an element. A second ion beam contains an element different from the element of the first ion beam. The separated micro sample is fed to the second ion beam from the apparatus of the first ion beam while being held on the micro-sample stage, and is processed by using the second ion beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 6, 2008
    Assignee: Hitachi High-Technologies Corp.
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Shichi, Kaoru Umemura, Muneyuki Fukuda
  • Publication number: 20080073582
    Abstract: The present invention provides an ion beam processing technology for improving the precision in processing a section of a sample using an ion beam without making a processing time longer than a conventionally required processing time, and for shortening the time required for separating a micro test piece without breaking the sample or the time required for making preparations for the separation. An ion beam processing apparatus is structured so that an axis along which an ion beam is drawn out of an ion source and an ion beam irradiation axis along which the ion beam is irradiated to a sample mounted on a first sample stage will meet at an angle. Furthermore, the ion beam processing apparatus has a tilting ability to vary an angle of irradiation, at which the ion beam is irradiated to the sample, by rotating a second sample stage, on which a test piece extracted from the sample by performing ion beam processing is mounted, about the tilting axis of the second sample stage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 13, 2007
    Publication date: March 27, 2008
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Shichi, Satoshi Tomimatsu, Noriyuki Kaneoka, Kaoru Umemura, Koji Ishiguro
  • Publication number: 20080067385
    Abstract: An object of the invention is to realize a method and an apparatus for processing and observing a minute sample which can observe a section of a wafer in horizontal to vertical directions with high resolution, high accuracy and high throughput without splitting any wafer which is a sample. In an apparatus of the invention, there are included a focused ion beam optical system and an electron optical system in one vacuum container, and a minute sample containing a desired area of the sample is separated by forming processing with a charged particle beam, and there are included a manipulator for extracting the separated minute sample, and a manipulator controller for driving the manipulator independently of a wafer sample stage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2007
    Publication date: March 20, 2008
    Inventors: Mitsuo Tokuda, Muneyuki Fukuda, Yasuhiro Mitsui, Hidemi Koike, Satoshi Tomimatsu, Hiroyasu Shichi, Hideo Kashima, Kaoru Umemura
  • Publication number: 20080029699
    Abstract: A charged particle beam system, a sample processing method, and a semiconductor inspection system enable an accurate detection of a particle in a film without causing LMIS contamination and allow observation with an electron microscope quickly. A particle 65 causing a defect in a film 66 that has been detected with a separate optical inspection system is detected with an optical microscope 43 based on position information acquired by the separate optical inspection system. A sample 31 is processed with a nonmetal ion beam 22 so as to allow observation of the particle 65 with an electron microscope image or an ion microscope image, or ultimate analysis of the particle 65 with an EDX.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 6, 2007
    Publication date: February 7, 2008
    Applicant: Hitachi High- Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Noriyuki KANEOKA, Kaoru Umemura, Koji Ishiguro
  • Publication number: 20080018460
    Abstract: Provided is a charged particle beam processing apparatus capable of improving yields by suppressing the spread of metal pollution to a semiconductor manufacturing process to a minimum. The charged particle beam processing apparatus includes an ion beam column 1 that is connected to a vacuum vessel 10 and irradiates a sample 35 with an ion beam 11 of nonmetal ion species, a microsampling unit 3 having a probe 16 that extracts a microsample 43 cut out from a sample 35 by the ion beam 11, a gas gun 2 that discharges a gas for bonding the microsample 43 and the probe 16, a pollution measuring beam column 6A that is connected to the same vacuum vessel 10 to which the ion beam column 1 is connected and irradiates an ion beam irradiation traces by the ion beam column 1 with a pollution measuring beam 13, and a detector 7 that detects characteristic X-rays emitted from the ion beam irradiation traces by the ion beam column 1 upon irradiation with the pollution measuring beam 13.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 18, 2007
    Publication date: January 24, 2008
    Applicant: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Koji Ishiguro, Kaoru Umemura, Noriyuki Kaneoka
  • Publication number: 20070257200
    Abstract: An emitter of a Ga liquid metal ion source is constituted to include W12 of a base material and Ga9 of an ion source element covering a surface as construction materials. By making back-sputtered particles become elements (W and Ga) of the Ga liquid metal ion sour source, if back-sputtered particles attach to the Ga liquid metal ion source, contamination which may change physical characteristics of Ga9 does not occur. A W aperture is used as a beam limiting (GUN) aperture to place Ga of approx. 25 mg (of melting point of 30° C.) on a surface of a portion included in a beam emission region (Ga store). When emitting ions to the beam limiting (GUN) aperture, Ga in the emission region melts and diffuses on a surface of the beam emission region of the W aperture.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 4, 2007
    Publication date: November 8, 2007
    Applicant: Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Kaga, Yuichi Madokoro, Shigeru Izawa, Tohru Ishitani, Kaoru Umemura
  • Patent number: 7268356
    Abstract: A sample fabricating method of irradiating a sample with a focused ion beam at an incident angle less than 90 degrees with respect to the surface of the sample, eliminating the peripheral area of a micro sample as a target, turning a specimen stage around a line segment perpendicular to the sample surface as a turn axis, irradiating the sample with the focused ion beam while the incident angle on the sample surface is fixed, and separating the micro sample or preparing the micro sample to be separated. A sample fabricating apparatus for forming a sample section in a sample held on a specimen stage by scanning and deflecting an ion beam, wherein an angle between an optical axis of the ion beam and the surface of the specimen stage is fixed and formation of a sample section is controlled by turning the specimen stage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 11, 2007
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyasu Shichi, Tohru Ishitani, Hidemi Koike, Kaoru Umemura, Eiichi Seya, Mitsuo Tokuda, Satoshi Tomimatsu, Hideo Kashima, Muneyuki Fukuda
  • Publication number: 20070181831
    Abstract: An object of the invention is to realize a method and an apparatus for processing and observing a minute sample which can observe a section of a wafer in horizontal to vertical directions with high resolution, high accuracy and high throughput without splitting any wafer which is a sample. In an apparatus of the invention, there are included a focused ion beam optical system and an electron optical system in one vacuum container, and a minute sample containing a desired area of the sample is separated by forming processing with a charged particle beam, and there are included a manipulator for extracting the separated minute sample, and a manipulator controller for driving the manipulator independently of a wafer sample stage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 5, 2007
    Publication date: August 9, 2007
    Inventors: Mitsuo Tokuda, Muneyuki Fukuda, Yasuhiro Mitsui, Hidemi Koike, Satoshi Tomimatsu, Hiroyasu Shichi, Hideo Kashima, Kaoru Umemura