Patents by Inventor Makoto Yabe

Makoto Yabe 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: 11688058
    Abstract: A pattern inspection apparatus includes an optical image acquisition mechanism to acquire an optical image of each of a plurality of regions on the inspection substrate where a pattern is formed, a plurality of comparison circuits to individually compare the optical image with a reference image corresponding to the optical image, an abnormality determination circuit to determine, based on comparison results, whether there is a region having an inspection abnormality in the plurality of regions, a malfunction diagnosis circuit to diagnose whether a comparison circuit that performed comparison for the region determined to have the inspection abnormality in the plurality of regions has a malfunction, and an assignment processing circuit to individually assign regions of the plurality of regions where comparison is to be performed to comparison circuits that are not diagnosed as malfunctions, and to exclude a comparison circuit diagnosed as a malfunction from the region assignment target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Makoto Yabe, Takafumi Inoue
  • Publication number: 20210407061
    Abstract: A pattern inspection apparatus includes an optical image acquisition mechanism to acquire an optical image of each of a plurality of regions on the inspection substrate where a pattern is formed, a plurality of comparison circuits to individually compare the optical image with a reference image corresponding to the optical image, an abnormality determination circuit to determine, based on comparison results, whether there is a region having an inspection abnormality in the plurality of regions, a malfunction diagnosis circuit to diagnose whether a comparison circuit that performed comparison for the region determined to have the inspection abnormality in the plurality of regions has a malfunction, and an assignment processing circuit to individually assign regions of the plurality of regions where comparison is to be performed to comparison circuits that are not diagnosed as malfunctions, and to exclude a comparison circuit diagnosed as a malfunction from the region assignment target.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2021
    Publication date: December 30, 2021
    Applicant: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Makoto YABE, Takafumi INOUE
  • Patent number: 10540561
    Abstract: An inspection method includes a rough alignment process of acquiring optical images of first and second patterns previously set to confirm whether a position misalignment amount in a rotation direction of a sample with respect to an X or Y direction is equal to or smaller than a first acceptable value, and conforming whether the position misalignment amount is equal to or smaller than the first acceptable value on the basis of an acquisition result, and a fine alignment process of acquiring optical images of third patterns positioned on different corners of a rectangular frame constituted of four sides along the X or Y direction on an optical image of the sample and rotating a stage until a position misalignment amount detected based on the optical images of the third patterns becomes equal to or smaller than a second acceptable value being smaller than the first acceptable value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: NUFLARE TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Makoto Yabe, Hiroteru Akiyama, Takafumi Inoue
  • Publication number: 20190095740
    Abstract: An inspection method includes a rough alignment process of acquiring optical images of first and second patterns previously set to confirm whether a position misalignment amount in a rotation direction of a sample with respect to an X or Y direction is equal to or smaller than a first acceptable value, and conforming whether the position misalignment amount is equal to or smaller than the first acceptable value on the basis of an acquisition result, and a fine alignment process of acquiring optical images of third patterns positioned on different corners of a rectangular frame constituted of four sides along the X or Y direction on an optical image of the sample and rotating a stage until a position misalignment amount detected based on the optical images of the third patterns becomes equal to or smaller than a second acceptable value being smaller than the first acceptable value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Publication date: March 28, 2019
    Applicant: NUFLARE TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Makoto YABE, Hiroteru AKIYAMA, Takafumi INOUE
  • Patent number: 9165355
    Abstract: An inspection method comprising, virtually dividing a sample, in which a plurality of chip patterns are formed, into a plurality of strip-shaped stripes along a predetermined direction to acquire an optical image of the chip pattern in each of the stripes, performing filtering based on design data of the chip pattern to produce a reference image corresponding to the optical image, comparing the chip pattern using a die-to-database method and comparing a repetitive pattern portion in the chip pattern using a cell method, obtaining at least one of a dimension difference and a dimension ratio between a pattern of the optical image and a pattern of the reference image compared to the pattern of the optical image by the die-to-database method; and obtaining a dimension distribution of the plurality of chip patterns from at least one of the dimension difference and the dimension ratio.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2015
    Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Hideo Tsuchiya, Manabu Isobe, Hiroteru Akiyama, Makoto Yabe, Takafumi Inoue, Nobutaka Kikuiri
  • Publication number: 20150279024
    Abstract: An inspection method comprising, virtually dividing a sample, in which a plurality of chip patterns are formed, into a plurality of strip-shaped stripes along a predetermined direction to acquire an optical image of the chip pattern in each of the stripes, performing filtering based on design data of the chip pattern to produce a reference image corresponding to the optical image, comparing the chip pattern using a die-to-database method and comparing a repetitive pattern portion in the chip pattern using a cell method, obtaining at least one of a dimension difference and a dimension ratio between a pattern of the optical image and a pattern of the reference image compared to the pattern of the optical image by the die-to-database method; and obtaining a dimension distribution of the plurality of chip patterns from at least one of the dimension difference and the dimension ratio.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 13, 2014
    Publication date: October 1, 2015
    Applicant: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Hideo TSUCHIYA, Manabu ISOBE, Hiroteru AKIYAMA, Makoto YABE, Takafumi INOUE, Nobutaka KIKUIRI
  • Patent number: 6743099
    Abstract: A plurality of player characters are displayed simultaneously. Switches including at least one of a plurality of orientation input means are assigned to the respective player characters. At least one of the plurality of player characters has a first mode in which the player character operates in accordance with inputs made by the switches assigned to the player character, and a second mode in which the player character operates in accordance with a predetermined sub-program. Switching between the first and second modes is effected when there is performed input operation by any one of switches assigned to the player characters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2004
    Assignee: Konami Corporation
    Inventors: Makoto Yabe, Hiroki Satoyoshi, Yuji Kubo
  • Publication number: 20030040364
    Abstract: In a fighting game in which a plurality of characters controlled by players are displayed on a display to fight with each other, a computer program provides a first mode in which at least three characters are displayed on a first screen to fight with each other, and a second mode in which two characters are displayed on a second screen to perform a man-to-man battle. A current mode of the fighting game is switched between the first mode and the second mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2002
    Publication date: February 27, 2003
    Applicant: KONAMI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Makoto Yabe, Hidehiro Hirata, Yuji Kubo, Kazuki Yamamura, Noriaki Okamura
  • Publication number: 20020119811
    Abstract: A plurality of player characters are displayed simultaneously. Switches including at least one of a plurality of orientation input means are assigned to the respective player characters. At least one of the plurality of player characters has a first mode in which the player character operates in accordance with inputs made by the switches assigned to the player character, and a second mode in which the player character operates in accordance with a predetermined sub-program. Switching between the first and second modes is effected when there is performed input operation by any one of switches assigned to the player characters.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 17, 2002
    Publication date: August 29, 2002
    Applicant: KONAMI CORPORATION
    Inventors: Makoto Yabe, Hiroki Satoyoshi, Yuji Kubo
  • Patent number: 6251012
    Abstract: The game system comprises an image display device; an operation input device issuing a signal corresponding to an operation of a player; a mode select device for selecting one mode between a breeding mode in which a breeding game is prepared and a competition mode in which a competition game is prepared; a breeding game control device for controlling a progress of the breeding game, and a competition game control device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2001
    Assignee: Konami Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Atsushi Horigami, Riichiro Kawahara, Mariko Koyama, Kenhei Gu, Atsushi Otani, Hidehiro Hirata, Makoto Yabe, Kazuhiko Kobari