Patents by Inventor Kengo Torii

Kengo Torii 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: 11515180
    Abstract: In a ceramic heater, a central-zone heating resistor and an outer-peripheral-zone heating resistor are embedded in a disc-like ceramic base having a wafer-mounting surface on one side. The central-zone heating resistor is a wire extending in a single continuous line from one of a pair of terminals to the other. The pair of terminals as a whole form a circular shape in plan view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 29, 2022
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Takebayashi, Kengo Torii, Natsuki Hirata
  • Patent number: 11476147
    Abstract: A wafer holding table includes a ceramic electrostatic chuck, a metal cooling plate, a resin layer having predetermined thermal resistance, and a stress relaxation layer having lower Young's modulus than the resin layer. The resin layer and the stress relaxation layer are disposed between the electrostatic chuck and the cooling plate. The resin layer is disposed closer to the electrostatic chuck, and the stress relaxation layer is disposed closer to the cooling plate. The resin layer has a multilayer structure including a plurality of resin sheets laminated one on another. The resin layer is thinner than a comparative sample with a single-layer structure made of a material identical to a material of the resin sheet and having thermal resistance identical to thermal resistance of the resin layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takuya Yanoh, Kengo Torii
  • Patent number: 11437260
    Abstract: A heater for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the heater includes an AlN ceramic substrate and a heating element embedded inside the AlN ceramic substrate. The AlN ceramic substrate contains O, C, Ti, Ca, and Y as impurity elements, includes an yttrium aluminate phase as a crystal phase, and has a Ti/Ca mass ratio of 0.13 or more, and a TiN phase is not detected in an XRD profile measured with Cu K-? radiation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2022
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Keita Yamana, Kazuhiro Nobori, Kengo Torii
  • Publication number: 20220005722
    Abstract: A heater for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the heater includes an AlN ceramic substrate and a heating element embedded inside the AlN ceramic substrate. The AlN ceramic substrate contains O, C, Ti, Ca, and Y as impurity elements, includes an yttrium aluminate phase as a crystal phase, and has a Ti/Ca mass ratio of 0.13 or more, and a TiN phase is not detected in an XRD profile measured with Cu K-? radiation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2021
    Publication date: January 6, 2022
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Keita YAMANA, Kazuhiro NOBORI, Kengo TORII
  • Publication number: 20210043491
    Abstract: A wafer holding table includes a ceramic electrostatic chuck, a metal cooling plate, a resin layer having predetermined thermal resistance, and a stress relaxation layer having lower Young's modulus than the resin layer. The resin layer and the stress relaxation layer are disposed between the electrostatic chuck and the cooling plate. The resin layer is disposed closer to the electrostatic chuck, and the stress relaxation layer is disposed closer to the cooling plate. The resin layer has a multilayer structure including a plurality of resin sheets laminated one on another. The resin layer is thinner than a comparative sample with a single-layer structure made of a material identical to a material of the resin sheet and having thermal resistance identical to thermal resistance of the resin layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2020
    Publication date: February 11, 2021
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Takuya YANOH, Kengo TORII
  • Publication number: 20200118858
    Abstract: A heater for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the heater includes an AlN ceramic substrate and a heating element embedded inside the AlN ceramic substrate. The AlN ceramic substrate contains O, C, Ti, Ca, and Y as impurity elements, includes an yttrium aluminate phase as a crystal phase, and has a Ti/Ca mass ratio of 0.13 or more, and a TiN phase is not detected in an XRD profile measured with Cu K-? radiation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 13, 2019
    Publication date: April 16, 2020
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Keita YAMANA, Kazuhiro Nobori, Kengo Torii
  • Patent number: 10566228
    Abstract: A heater for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the heater includes an AlN ceramic substrate and a heating element embedded inside the AlN ceramic substrate. The AlN ceramic substrate contains O, C, Ti, Ca, and Y as impurity elements, includes an yttrium aluminate phase as a crystal phase, and has a Ti/Ca mass ratio of 0.13 or more, and a TiN phase is not detected in an XRD profile measured with Cu K-? radiation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Keita Yamana, Kazuhiro Nobori, Kengo Torii
  • Publication number: 20190385871
    Abstract: In a ceramic heater, a central-zone heating resistor and an outer-peripheral-zone heating resistor are embedded in a disc-like ceramic base having a wafer-mounting surface on one side. The central-zone heating resistor is a wire extending in a single continuous line from one of a pair of terminals to the other. The pair of terminals as a whole form a circular shape in plan view.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2019
    Publication date: December 19, 2019
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Takebayashi, Kengo Torii, Natsuki Hirata
  • Publication number: 20190244847
    Abstract: A heater for a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, the heater includes an AlN ceramic substrate and a heating element embedded inside the AlN ceramic substrate. The AlN ceramic substrate contains O, C, Ti, Ca, and Y as impurity elements, includes an yttrium aluminate phase as a crystal phase, and has a Ti/Ca mass ratio of 0.13 or more, and a TiN phase is not detected in an XRD profile measured with Cu K-? radiation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 17, 2018
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Keita YAMANA, Kazuhiro NOBORI, Kengo TORII
  • Patent number: 10256105
    Abstract: An electrostatic chuck heater includes a disc-shaped ceramic base and a plurality of heating elements embedded in the ceramic base. A top surface of the electrostatic chuck heater, which serves as a wafer mounting surface, is divided into multiple zones. The heating elements, which each include terminals that are embedded in the ceramic base in the respective zones. Terminal collection regions are provided on a bottom surface of the electrostatic chuck heater. The number of terminal collection regions is smaller than the total number of heating elements. The terminals of each of the heating elements are connected to one of the terminal collection regions through the ceramic base.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Takebayashi, Kengo Torii
  • Publication number: 20170345668
    Abstract: An electrostatic chuck heater 10 includes a disc-shaped ceramic base 30 and a plurality of heating elements 20 embedded in the ceramic base 30. A top surface 12 of the electrostatic chuck heater 10, which serves as a wafer Mounting surface, is divided into multiple zones. The heating elements 20, which each include terminals 22 and 24, are embedded in the ceramic base 30 in the respective zones. Terminal collection regions 16 are provided on a bottom surface 14 of the electrostatic chuck heater 10. The number of terminal collection regions 16 (eight in this example) is smaller than the total number of heating elements 20. The terminals 22 and 24 of each of the heating elements 20 are connected to one of the terminal collection regions 16 through the ceramic base 30.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 21, 2017
    Publication date: November 30, 2017
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Hiroshi TAKEBAYASHI, Kengo Torii