Patents by Inventor Masafumi Kunii

Masafumi Kunii 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: 9328414
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method of manufacturing a thin film semiconductor device includes the step of forming a silicon thin film including a crystalline structure on a substrate by a plasma CVD process in which a high order silane gas represented by the formula SinH2n+2 (n=2, 3, . . . ) and a hydrogen gas are used as film forming gases.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: Japan Display Inc.
    Inventor: Masafumi Kunii
  • Patent number: 8686971
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a liquid crystal display device including a liquid crystal panel having a first substrate, a second substrate facing the first substrate, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, and first and second electrodes formed on a surface side, of the first substrate, facing the second substrate, a transverse electric field being applied to the liquid crystal layer through the first and second electrodes, thereby displaying an image in a pixel area; wherein the first substrate includes: a light receiving element provided on the surface, of the first substrate, facing the second substrate, for receiving an incident light on a light receiving surface thereof, thereby forming data on the received light; and a planarizing film provided on the surface side, of the first substrate, facing the second substrate so as to cover the light receiving element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 1, 2014
    Assignee: Japan Display West Inc.
    Inventors: Masafumi Kunii, Ryoichi Ito, Masanobu Ikeda
  • Patent number: 8269927
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a liquid crystal display including a liquid crystal panel including, a first substrate, a second substrate opposed to said first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between said first substrate and said second substrate, a plurality of pixels being arrayed in a first direction and in a second direction orthogonal to said first direction in a pixel area provided in a plane where said first substrate and said second substrate are opposed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Masafumi Kunii, Go Yamanaka
  • Patent number: 7915648
    Abstract: A light-receiving element includes: a first-conductivity-type semiconductor region configured to be formed over an element formation surface; a second-conductivity-type semiconductor region configured to be formed over the element formation surface; an intermediate semiconductor region configured to be formed over the element formation surface between the first-conductivity-type semiconductor region and the second-conductivity-type semiconductor region, and have an impurity concentration lower than impurity concentrations of the first-conductivity-type semiconductor region and the second-conductivity-type semiconductor region. The light-receiving element further includes: a first electrode configured to be electrically connected to the first-conductivity-type semiconductor region; a second electrode configured to be electrically connected to the second-conductivity-type semiconductor region; and a control electrode configured to be formed in an opposed area that exists on the element formation surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 29, 2011
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Natsuki Otani, Tsutomu Tanaka, Masafumi Kunii, Masanobu Ikeda, Ryoichi Ito
  • Publication number: 20100164921
    Abstract: Improvement of the image quality and position detection accuracy is implemented. Operation of a backlight 300 to emit illuminating light from one face side of a liquid crystal panel 200 to a display region PA of the liquid crystal panel 200 is controlled based on reception light data obtained by an external light sensor element 32b. Here, the operation of the backlight 300 is controlled based on the reception light data obtained by the external light sensor element 32b disposed in the display region PA.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 27, 2008
    Publication date: July 1, 2010
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masumitsu Ino, Tsutomu Tanaka, Ryoichi Ito, Masafumi Kunii, Hiroyuki Ikeda, Masanobu Ikeda
  • Patent number: 7700418
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method for production of a thin-film semiconductor device which includes, a first step to form a gate electrode on a substrate, a second step to form a gate insulating film of silicon oxynitride on the substrate in such a way as to cover the gate electrode, a third step to form a semiconductor thin film on the gate insulating film, and a fourth step to perform heat treatment in an oxygen-containing oxidizing atmosphere for modification through oxygen binding with oxygen-deficient parts in the silicon oxynitride film constituting the gate insulating film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2010
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Masafumi Kunii
  • Publication number: 20090279029
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a liquid crystal display including a liquid crystal panel including, a first substrate, a second substrate opposed to said first substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between said first substrate and said second substrate, a plurality of pixels being arrayed in a first direction and in a second direction orthogonal to said first direction in a pixel area provided in a plane where said first substrate and said second substrate are opposed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 5, 2009
    Publication date: November 12, 2009
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masafumi Kunii, Go Yamanaka
  • Publication number: 20090207153
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a liquid crystal display device including a liquid crystal panel having a first substrate, a second substrate facing the first substrate, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first substrate and the second substrate, and first and second electrodes formed on a surface side, of the first substrate, facing the second substrate, a transverse electric field being applied to the liquid crystal layer through the first and second electrodes, thereby displaying an image in a pixel area; wherein the first substrate includes: a light receiving element provided on the surface, of the first substrate, facing the second substrate, for receiving an incident light on a light receiving surface thereof, thereby forming data on the received light; and a planarizing film provided on the surface side, of the first substrate, facing the second substrate so as to cover the light receiving element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2009
    Publication date: August 20, 2009
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Masafumi Kunii, Ryoichi Ito, Masanobu Ikeda
  • Publication number: 20090191672
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method for production of a thin-film semiconductor device which includes, a first step to form a gate electrode on a substrate, a second step to form a gate insulating film of silicon oxynitride on the substrate in such a way as to cover the gate electrode, a third step to form a semiconductor thin film on the gate insulating film, and a fourth step to perform heat treatment in an oxygen-containing oxidizing atmosphere for modification through oxygen binding with oxygen-deficient parts in the silicon oxynitride film constituting the gate insulating film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 31, 2009
    Publication date: July 30, 2009
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Masafumi Kunii
  • Publication number: 20090159893
    Abstract: A light-receiving element includes: a first-conductivity-type semiconductor region configured to be formed over an element formation surface; a second-conductivity-type semiconductor region configured to be formed over the element formation surface; an intermediate semiconductor region configured to be formed over the element formation surface between the first-conductivity-type semiconductor region and the second-conductivity-type semiconductor region, and have an impurity concentration lower than impurity concentrations of the first-conductivity-type semiconductor region and the second-conductivity-type semiconductor region. The light-receiving element further includes: a first electrode configured to be electrically connected to the first-conductivity-type semiconductor region; a second electrode configured to be electrically connected to the second-conductivity-type semiconductor region; and a control electrode configured to be formed in an opposed area that exists on the element formation surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2008
    Publication date: June 25, 2009
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Natsuki Otani, Tsutomu Tanaka, Masafumi Kunii, Masanobu Ikeda, Ryoichi Ito
  • Patent number: 7550328
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method for production of a thin-film semiconductor device which includes, a first step to form a gate electrode on a substrate, a second step to form a gate insulating film of silicon oxynitride on the substrate in such a way as to cover the gate electrode, a third step to form a semiconductor thin film on the gate insulating film, and a fourth step to perform heat treatment in an oxygen-containing oxidizing atmosphere for modification through oxygen binding with oxygen-deficient parts in the silicon oxynitride film constituting the gate insulating film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 23, 2009
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Masafumi Kunii
  • Publication number: 20090142912
    Abstract: A method of manufacturing a thin film semiconductor device that includes forming a thin film transistor on a substrate, forming a layer insulation film on the substrate, the layer insulation film containing no hydroxyl group in at least a film constituting a lowermost layer in the state of covering said thin film transistor and linking oxygen or hydrogen to dangling bonds in the semiconductor thin film constituting the thin film transistor by a heat treatment in a moisture atmosphere after the formation of the layer insulation film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2008
    Publication date: June 4, 2009
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Kunii
  • Publication number: 20090029530
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method of manufacturing a thin film semiconductor device includes the step of forming a silicon thin film including a crystalline structure on a substrate by a plasma CVD process in which a high order silane gas represented by the formula SinH2n+2 (n=2, 3, . . . ) and a hydrogen gas are used as film forming gases.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2008
    Publication date: January 29, 2009
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Kunii
  • Publication number: 20080182368
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a method for production of a thin-film semiconductor device which includes, a first step to form a gate electrode on a substrate, a second step to form a gate insulating film of silicon oxynitride on the substrate in such a way as to cover the gate electrode, a third step to form a semiconductor thin film on the gate insulating film, and a fourth step to perform heat treatment in an oxygen-containing oxidizing atmosphere for modification through oxygen binding with oxygen-deficient parts in the silicon oxynitride film constituting the gate insulating film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 9, 2008
    Publication date: July 31, 2008
    Applicant: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Masafumi Kunii
  • Publication number: 20080119030
    Abstract: According to an embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an improved method for manufacturing a thin film semiconductor device. This method includes the step of depositing a silicon thin film including a crystalline structure on a substrate by plasma CVD in which a silane gas represented by the formula SinH2n+2 (n=1, 2, 3, . . . ) and a germanium halide gas are used as a source gas.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2007
    Publication date: May 22, 2008
    Applicant: Sony Corporation
    Inventor: Masafumi Kunii
  • Publication number: 20070298553
    Abstract: The production method of the thin film transistor according to the present invention involves the reactive heat CVD process to form the active layer and the source-drain layer. This offers the advantage of eliminating additional steps to crystallize the semiconductor thin film. The resulting stacked thin film transistor is composed of originally crystalline semiconductor thin films. Having the active layer and the source-drain layer formed from crystalline semiconductor thin film, the stacked thin film transistor has a faster working speed than the one formed from amorphous semiconductor thin film. Another advantage of eliminating steps for crystallization is uniform quality which would otherwise be adversely affected by crystallization. In addition, the fact that the source-drain layer is formed from a previously doped crystalline semiconductor thin film means that there is no need for any step to introduce impurities after film formation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2007
    Publication date: December 27, 2007
    Inventor: Masafumi Kunii
  • Publication number: 20060199317
    Abstract: The production method of the thin film transistor according to the present invention involves the reactive heat CVD process to form the active layer and the source-drain layer. This offers the advantage of eliminating additional steps to crystallize the semiconductor thin film. The resulting stacked thin film transistor is composed of originally crystalline semiconductor thin films. Having the active layer and the source-drain layer formed from crystalline semiconductor thin film, the stacked thin film transistor has a faster working speed than the one formed from amorphous semiconductor thin film. Another advantage of eliminating steps for crystallization is uniform quality which would otherwise be adversely affected by crystallization. In addition, the fact that the source-drain layer is formed from a previously doped crystalline semiconductor thin film means that there is no need for any step to introduce impurities after film formation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2006
    Publication date: September 7, 2006
    Inventor: Masafumi Kunii
  • Publication number: 20060051903
    Abstract: TFTs are formed on a substrate, and a layer insulation film containing no hydroxyl group in at least a lowermost layer film is formed in the state of covering the TFTs. Thereafter, a heat treatment is conducted in a moisture atmosphere, whereby oxygen or hydrogen is bound to dangling bonds present in a semiconductor thin film constituting the TFTs, and an enhancement of the denseness of the layer insulation film is contrived. The layer insulation film includes silicon nitride, for example.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2005
    Publication date: March 9, 2006
    Inventor: Masafumi Kunii
  • Publication number: 20050070055
    Abstract: The production method of the thin film transistor according to the present invention involves the reactive heat CVD process to form the active layer and the source-drain layer. This offers the advantage of eliminating additional steps to crystallize the semiconductor thin film. The resulting stacked thin film transistor is composed of originally crystalline semiconductor thin films. Having the active layer and the source-drain layer formed from crystalline semiconductor thin film, the stacked thin film transistor has a faster working speed than the one formed from amorphous semiconductor thin film. Another advantage of eliminating steps for crystallization is uniform quality which would otherwise be adversely affected by crystallization. In addition, the fact that the source-drain layer is formed from a previously doped crystalline semiconductor thin film means that there is no need for any step to introduce impurities after film formation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 15, 2004
    Publication date: March 31, 2005
    Inventor: Masafumi Kunii
  • Patent number: 6734635
    Abstract: A process of crystallizing a semiconductor thin film previously formed on a substrate by irradiating the semiconductor thin film with a laser beam, includes: a preparation step of dividing the surface of the substrate into a plurality of division regions, and shaping a laser beam to adjust an irradiation region of the laser beam such that one of the division regions is collectively irradiated with one shot of the laser beam; a crystallization step of irradiating one of the division regions with the laser beam while optically modulating the intensity of the laser beam such that a cyclic light-and-dark pattern is projected on the irradiation region, and irradiating the same division region by at least one time after shifting the pattern such that the light and dark portions of the pattern after shifting are not overlapped to those of the pattern before shifting; and a scanning step of shifting the irradiation region of the laser beam to the next division region, and repeating the crystallization step for the
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2004
    Assignee: Sony Corporation
    Inventors: Masafumi Kunii, Makoto Takatoku, Michio Mano