Patents by Inventor Kentaro Oshimo

Kentaro Oshimo 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: 20230193464
    Abstract: A substrate-processing-apparatus includes a processing-vessel to accommodate a substrate and to process the substrate; a substrate-support that is provided inside the processing-vessel and has a mounting-surface on which the substrate is mounted; and a lift-pin-mechanism that includes a lift-pin that is movable relative to the substrate-support and a pin-housing-chamber in which the lift-pin is housed, the lift-pin-mechanism being to lift the substrate by raising the lift-pin, wherein the substrate-support has a hole through which the lift-pin is passable, the lift-pin mechanism includes a pressure-regulator that regulates the pressure in the hole by passing inert-gas through the pin-housing-chamber, and at a timing when the substrate is to be lifted, the pressure-regulator adjusts the pressure in the hole to a lifting pressure that is greater than or equal to the pressure in a processing space that is above the mounting-surface and at which the substrate remains continuously mounted on the mounting-surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 16, 2022
    Publication date: June 22, 2023
    Inventors: Akihiro KURIBAYASHI, Kentaro OSHIMO, Hyunyoung GO, Yudo SUGAWARA, Akashi FUJIO
  • Patent number: 11414753
    Abstract: A processing method according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes varying pressure of a processing chamber in a state in which a plasma of a purge gas is formed in the processing chamber, the varying including removing a film deposited in the processing chamber, with the formed plasma.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Hideomi Hane, Takeshi Oyama, Kentaro Oshimo, Yusuke Suzuki, Jun Ogawa
  • Patent number: 11201053
    Abstract: A method for forming a silicon nitride film to cover a stepped portion formed by exposed surfaces of first and second base films in a substrate, includes: forming a nitride film or a seed layer to cover the stepped portion, wherein the nitride film is formed by supplying, to the substrate, a nitrogen-containing base-film nitriding gas for nitriding the base films, exposing the substrate to plasma and nitriding the surface of the stepped portion, and the seed layer is composed of a silicon-containing film formed by supplying a raw material gas of silicon to the substrate and is configured such that the silicon nitride film uniformly grows on the surfaces of the base films; and forming the silicon nitride film on the seed layer by supplying, to the substrate, a second raw material gas of silicon and a silicon-nitriding gas for nitriding silicon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 14, 2021
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Noriaki Fukiage, Takayuki Karakawa, Toyohiro Kamada, Akihiro Kuribayashi, Takeshi Oyama, Jun Ogawa, Kentaro Oshimo, Shimon Otsuki, Hideomi Hane
  • Patent number: 11171014
    Abstract: There is provided a substrate processing method, including: forming a silicon nitride film laminated on an etching target film by supplying a film forming gas to a substrate; oxidizing a surface of the silicon nitride film to form an oxide layer by supplying an oxidizing gas to the substrate; and etching the etching target film by supplying an etching gas containing halogen to the substrate, in a state in which the etching target film and the oxide layer are exposed on a surface of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2021
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Hideomi Hane, Kentaro Oshimo, Shimon Otsuki, Jun Ogawa, Noriaki Fukiage, Hiroaki Ikegawa, Yasuo Kobayashi, Takeshi Oyama
  • Publication number: 20210130950
    Abstract: A processing method according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes varying pressure of a processing chamber in a state in which a plasma of a purge gas is formed in the processing chamber, the varying including removing a film deposited in the processing chamber, with the formed plasma.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 2, 2020
    Publication date: May 6, 2021
    Inventors: Hideomi HANE, Takeshi OYAMA, Kentaro OSHIMO, Yusuke SUZUKI, Jun OGAWA
  • Patent number: 10900121
    Abstract: There is provided a film formation processing method for forming, in a vacuum atmosphere, a silicon nitride film along an inner wall surface of a recess constituting a pattern formed on a surface of a substrate, which includes: forming the silicon nitride film on the substrate by repeating, plural times, a process of supplying a raw material gas containing silicon to the substrate and subsequently, supplying an ammonia gas to the substrate to generate a silicon nitride on the substrate; and subsequently, modifying the silicon nitride film by activating a hydrogen gas and an ammonia gas and supplying the activated hydrogen gas and the activated ammonia gas to the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Noriaki Fukiage, Kentaro Oshimo, Shimon Otsuki, Hideomi Hane, Jun Ogawa, Hiroaki Ikegawa
  • Publication number: 20200294787
    Abstract: A method for forming a silicon nitride film to cover a stepped portion formed by exposed surfaces of first and second base films in a substrate, includes: forming a nitride film or a seed layer to cover the stepped portion, wherein the nitride film is formed by supplying, to the substrate, a nitrogen-containing base-film nitriding gas for nitriding the base films, exposing the substrate to plasma and nitriding the surface of the stepped portion, and the seed layer is composed of a silicon-containing film formed by supplying a raw material gas of silicon to the substrate and is configured such that the silicon nitride film uniformly grows on the surfaces of the base films; and forming the silicon nitride film on the seed layer by supplying, to the substrate, a second raw material gas of silicon and a silicon-nitriding gas for nitriding silicon.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 2, 2020
    Publication date: September 17, 2020
    Inventors: Noriaki FUKIAGE, Takayuki KARAKAWA, Toyohiro KAMADA, Akihiro KURIBAYASHI, Takeshi OYAMA, Jun OGAWA, Kentaro OSHIMO, Shimon OTSUKI, Hideomi HANE
  • Patent number: 10714332
    Abstract: A method for forming a silicon nitride film to cover a stepped portion formed by exposed surfaces of first and second base films in a substrate, includes: forming a nitride film or a seed layer to cover the stepped portion, wherein the nitride film is formed by supplying, to the substrate, a nitrogen-containing base-film nitriding gas for nitriding the base films, exposing the substrate to plasma and nitriding the surface of the stepped portion, and the seed layer is composed of a silicon-containing film formed by supplying a raw material gas of silicon to the substrate and is configured such that the silicon nitride film uniformly grows on the surfaces of the base films; and forming the silicon nitride film on the seed layer by supplying, to the substrate, a second raw material gas of silicon and a silicon-nitriding gas for nitriding silicon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Noriaki Fukiage, Takayuki Karakawa, Toyohiro Kamada, Akihiro Kuribayashi, Takeshi Oyama, Jun Ogawa, Kentaro Oshimo, Shimon Otsuki, Hideomi Hane
  • Patent number: 10550470
    Abstract: There is provided a film forming apparatus for performing a film forming process by supplying a film forming gas to a substrate in a vacuum atmosphere, comprising: a processing container in which a mounting part for mounting a substrate thereon is provided; a heating part configured to heat the substrate mounted on the mounting part; an exhaust part configured to evacuate an inside of the processing container; a cooling gas supply part configured to supply a cooling gas into the processing container; a purge gas supply part configured to supply a purge gas into the processing container; and a control part configured to output a control signal so as to execute a step of applying a stress to a thin film formed inside the processing container.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Hideomi Hane, Kentaro Oshimo, Shimon Otsuki, Takeshi Oyama, Hiroaki Ikegawa, Jun Ogawa
  • Patent number: 10438791
    Abstract: A film forming process of forming a silicon nitride film by depositing a molecular layer of silicon nitride on a surface of a substrate, in which an uneven pattern is formed and a base made of metal reacting with halogen is exposed, includes alternately performing adsorbing silicon halide to the surface of the substrate and nitriding the silicon halide, wherein the film forming process is performed under a condition in which the substrate is heated at a film-forming temperature, the film-forming temperature falling within a range of equal to or higher than a minimum film-forming temperature at which the molecular layer of the silicon nitride is formed by reaction of the silicon halide and a plasmarized nitriding gas and less than a maximum film-forming temperature at which the reaction of the base made of metal and the silicon halide goes ahead.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITED
    Inventors: Hideomi Hane, Kentaro Oshimo, Shimon Otsuki, Jun Ogawa, Noriaki Fukiage, Hiroaki Ikegawa, Yasuo Kobayashi, Takeshi Oyama
  • Publication number: 20190292662
    Abstract: A film-forming method includes: mounting a substrate on a mounting table in a vacuu container; adsorbing a raw material to the substrate by supplying raw material gas containing silicon into the vacuum container; nitriding the raw material by supplying nitriding gas to a plasma formation region inside the vacuum container and supplying plasmarized gas to the substrate; forming a silicon-containing nitride film on the substrate by alternately and repeatedly performing the adsorbing a raw material and the nitriding the raw material; setting stress of the silicon-containing nitride film before the adsorbing a raw material and nitriding the raw material; and adjusting a nitriding time having a length based on first correspondence relationship between the stress of the silicon-containing nitride film and parameter corresponding to the nitriding time in the plasma formation region, and the set stress of the silicon-containing nitride film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 25, 2019
    Publication date: September 26, 2019
    Inventors: Hideomi HANE, Kentaro OSHIMO, Shimon OTSUKI, Jun OGAWA, Noriaki FUKIAGE, Hiroaki IKEGAWA, Yasuo KOBAYASHI, Takeshi OYAMA
  • Publication number: 20190127849
    Abstract: There is provided a film forming apparatus for performing a film forming process by supplying a film forming gas to a substrate in a vacuum atmosphere, comprising: a processing container in which a mounting part for mounting a substrate thereon is provided; a heating part configured to heat the substrate mounted on the mounting part; an exhaust part configured to evacuate an inside of the processing container; a cooling gas supply part configured to supply a cooling gas into the processing container; a purge gas supply part configured to supply a purge gas into the processing container; and a control part configured to output a control signal so as to execute a step of applying a stress to a thin film formed inside the processing container.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 26, 2018
    Publication date: May 2, 2019
    Inventors: Hideomi HANE, Kentaro OSHIMO, Shimon OTSUKI, Takeshi OYAMA, Hiroaki IKEGAWA, Jun OGAWA
  • Publication number: 20180366315
    Abstract: A film forming process of forming a silicon nitride film by depositing a molecular layer of silicon nitride on a surface of a substrate, in which an uneven pattern is formed and a base made of metal reacting with halogen is exposed, includes alternately performing adsorbing silicon halide to the surface of the substrate and nitriding the silicon halide, wherein the film forming process is performed under a condition in which the substrate is heated at a film-forming temperature, the film-forming temperature falling within a range of equal to or higher than a minimum film-forming temperature at which the molecular layer of the silicon nitride is formed by reaction of the silicon halide and a plasmarized nitriding gas and less than a maximum film-forming temperature at which the reaction of the base made of metal and the silicon halide goes ahead.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2018
    Publication date: December 20, 2018
    Inventors: Hideomi Hane, Kentaro Oshimo, Shimon Otsuki, Jun Ogawa, Noriaki Fukiage, Hiroaki Ikegawa, Yasuo Kobayashi, Takeshi Oyama
  • Publication number: 20180358235
    Abstract: There is provided a substrate processing method, including: forming a silicon nitride film laminated on an etching target film by supplying a film forming gas to a substrate; oxidizing a surface of the silicon nitride film to form an oxide layer by supplying an oxidizing gas to the substrate; and etching the etching target film by supplying an etching gas containing halogen to the substrate, in a state in which the etching target film and the oxide layer are exposed on a surface of the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2018
    Publication date: December 13, 2018
    Inventors: Hideomi HANE, Kentaro OSHIMO, Shimon OTSUKI, Jun OGAWA, Noriaki FUKIAGE, Hiroaki IKEGAWA, Yasuo KOBAYASHI, Takeshi OYAMA
  • Patent number: 10151031
    Abstract: A method for processing a substrate is provided. According to the method, a process gas is supplied to a surface of a substrate, and then a separation gas is supplied to the surface of the substrate. Moreover, a first plasma processing gas is supplied to the surface of the substrate in a first state in which a distance between the first plasma generation unit and the turntable is set at a first distance, and a second plasma processing gas is supplied to the surface of the substrate in a second state in which a distance between the second plasma generation unit and the turntable is set at a second distance shorter than the first distance. Furthermore, the separation gas is supplied to the surface of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 11, 2018
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Hitoshi Kato, Jun Sato, Masahiro Murata, Kentaro Oshimo, Tomoko Sugano, Shigehiro Miura
  • Publication number: 20180237914
    Abstract: An apparatus for forming a nitride film of a raw material component on a substrate, includes: a raw material gas supply part having discharge ports that discharge a raw material gas and a purge gas, and an exhaust port; a reaction region spaced apart from the raw material gas supply part in a circumferential direction of a rotary table; a modification region spaced apart from the reaction region in the circumferential direction and in which the nitride film is modified with a hydrogen gas; a first plasma generating part provided in the modification region and a second plasma generating part provided in the reaction region, and for activating a gas existing in each of the modification and reaction regions; a reaction gas supply part for supplying the ammonia gas to the reaction region; and an exhaust port that evacuates an interior of the vacuum vessel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2018
    Publication date: August 23, 2018
    Inventors: Jun OGAWA, Noriaki FUKIAGE, Shimon OTSUKI, Muneyuki OTANI, Kentaro OSHIMO, Hideomi HANE
  • Publication number: 20180142350
    Abstract: There is provided a film formation processing method for forming, in a vacuum atmosphere, a silicon nitride film along an inner wall surface of a recess constituting a pattern formed on a surface of a substrate, which includes: forming the silicon nitride film on the substrate by repeating, plural times, a process of supplying a raw material gas containing silicon to the substrate and subsequently, supplying an ammonia gas to the substrate to generate a silicon nitride on the substrate; and subsequently, modifying the silicon nitride film by activating a hydrogen gas and an ammonia gas and supplying the activated hydrogen gas and the activated ammonia gas to the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2017
    Publication date: May 24, 2018
    Inventors: Noriaki Fukiage, Kentaro Oshimo, Shimon Otsuki, Hideomi Hane, Jun Ogawa, Hiroaki Ikegawa
  • Patent number: 9777369
    Abstract: A method of depositing a thin film on a substrate inside a vacuum chamber includes a first process that deposits a first film on the substrate, the first process including a process of supplying an active species that is obtained by changing a gas to plasma and is related to a quality of the thin film to the substrate; and a second process that deposits a second film that is the same type as that of the first film on the first film, the second process including a process of supplying the active species to the substrate so that a supply quantity of the active species per a unit film thickness is greater than a first supply quantity of the active species per the unit film thickness in the first process by adjusting a controlled parameter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2017
    Assignee: Tokyo Electron Limited
    Inventors: Hitoshi Kato, Masahiro Murata, Kentaro Oshimo, Shigehiro Miura
  • Publication number: 20170271143
    Abstract: A method for forming a silicon nitride film to cover a stepped portion formed by exposed surfaces of first and second base films in a substrate, includes: forming a nitride film or a seed layer to cover the stepped portion, wherein the nitride film is formed by supplying, to the substrate, a nitrogen-containing base-film nitriding gas for nitriding the base films, exposing the substrate to plasma and nitriding the surface of the stepped portion, and the seed layer is composed of a silicon-containing film formed by supplying a raw material gas of silicon to the substrate and is configured such that the silicon nitride film uniformly grows on the surfaces of the base films; and forming the silicon nitride film on the seed layer by supplying, to the substrate, a second raw material gas of silicon and a silicon-nitriding gas for nitriding silicon.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 15, 2017
    Publication date: September 21, 2017
    Inventors: Noriaki FUKIAGE, Takayuki KARAKAWA, Toyohiro KAMADA, Akihiro KURIBAYASHI, Takeshi OYAMA, Jun OGAWA, Kentaro OSHIMO, Shimon OTSUKI, Hideomi HANE
  • Publication number: 20170268104
    Abstract: A method for processing a substrate is provided. According to the method, a process gas is supplied to a surface of a substrate, and then a separation gas is supplied to the surface of the substrate. Moreover, a first plasma processing gas is supplied to the surface of the substrate in a first state in which a distance between the first plasma generation unit and the turntable is set at a first distance, and a second plasma processing gas is supplied to the surface of the substrate in a second state in which a distance between the second plasma generation unit and the turntable is set at a second distance shorter than the first distance. Furthermore, the separation gas is supplied to the surface of the substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 8, 2017
    Publication date: September 21, 2017
    Inventors: Hitoshi KATO, Jun SATO, Masahiro MURATA, Kentaro OSHIMO, Tomoko SUGANO, Shigehiro MIURA