Patents by Inventor Masatomo Shibata

Masatomo Shibata 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: 20230314359
    Abstract: There is provided an electrochemical sensor that electrochemically detects a specific substance in a test sample 50 by bringing a liquid test sample 50 into contact with sensor electrodes 20 arranged on a support 10, the electrochemical sensor including a holding structure 30 that constitutes a non-sealed finite space facing the sensor electrodes 20 and holds the test sample 50 that is brought into contact with the sensor electrodes 20 in the finite space.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2021
    Publication date: October 5, 2023
    Applicant: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Masafumi YOKOYAMA, Masatomo SHIBATA
  • Patent number: 11718927
    Abstract: There is provided a method of manufacturing a crystal substrate, including: preparing a first crystal body which is a substrate comprising a single crystal of group III nitride produced by a vapor phase method and having a first main surface, and in which c-plane of the single crystal is curved in a concave spherical shape with a predetermined curvature; and growing a second crystal body comprising a single crystal of group III nitride on the first main surface, in a mixed melt containing an alkali metal and a group III element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2023
    Assignee: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Takehiro Yoshida, Masatomo Shibata, Seiji Sarayama, Takashi Sato, Naoya Miyoshi, Akishige Murakami
  • Patent number: 10998188
    Abstract: There is provided a gallium nitride laminated substrate including: an n-type gallium nitride layer containing an n-type impurity; a p-type gallium nitride layer provided on the n-type gallium nitride layer, containing a p-type impurity, forming a pn-junction at an interface with the n-type gallium nitride layer, and having a p-type impurity concentration and a thickness such that, when a reverse bias voltage is applied to the pn-junction, a breakdown occurs due to a punchthrough phenomenon before occurrence of a breakdown due to an avalanche phenomenon; and an intermediate level layer provided on the p-type gallium nitride layer, containing a p-type gallium nitride which contains the p-type impurity at a higher concentration than the p-type gallium nitride layer, having at least one or more intermediate levels between a valence band and a conduction band, and configured to suppress an overcurrent resulting from a breakdown due to the punchthrough phenomenon in the p-type gallium nitride layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignees: HOSEI UNIVERSITY, SCIOCS COMPANY LIMITED, SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Tomoyoshi Mishima, Hiroshi Ohta, Fumimasa Horikiri, Masatomo Shibata
  • Patent number: 10978296
    Abstract: To provide a technique of increasing a radius of curvature of (0001) plane, and narrowing an off-angle distribution, there is provided a nitride semiconductor substrate containing a group III nitride semiconductor crystal and having a main surface in which a nearest low index crystal plane is (0001) plane, wherein (0001) plane in one of a direction along <1-100> axis and a direction along <11-20> axis orthogonal to the <1-100> axis, is curved in a concave spherical shape with respect to the main surface, and a radius of curvature of the (0001) plane in one of the direction along the <1-100> axis and the direction along the <11-20> axis orthogonal to the <1-100> axis is different from a radius of curvature of at least a part of the (0001) plane in the other direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignees: SCIOCS COMPANY LIMITED, SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Takehiro Yoshida, Hajime Fujikura, Masatomo Shibata, Fumimasa Horikiri
  • Patent number: 10584031
    Abstract: There is provided a nitride crystal substrate made of a nitride crystal with a diameter of 100 mm or more, having on its main surface: a continuous high dislocation density region and a plurality of low dislocation density regions divided by the high dislocation density region, with the main surface not including a polarity inversion domain.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignees: SCIOCS COMPANY LIMITED, SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Takehiro Yoshida, Masatomo Shibata
  • Publication number: 20190348276
    Abstract: There is provided a gallium nitride laminated substrate including: an n-type gallium nitride layer containing an n-type impurity; a p-type gallium nitride layer provided on the n-type gallium nitride layer, containing a p-type impurity, forming a pn-junction at an interface with the n-type gallium nitride layer, and having a p-type impurity concentration and a thickness such that, when a reverse bias voltage is applied to the pn-junction, a breakdown occurs due to a punchthrough phenomenon before occurrence of a breakdown due to an avalanche phenomenon; and an intermediate level layer provided on the p-type gallium nitride layer, containing a p-type gallium nitride which contains the p-type impurity at a higher concentration than the p-type gallium nitride layer, having at least one or more intermediate levels between a valence band and a conduction band, and configured to suppress an overcurrent resulting from a breakdown due to the punchthrough phenomenon in the p-type gallium nitride layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2019
    Publication date: November 14, 2019
    Inventors: Tomoyoshi MISHIMA, Hiroshi OHTA, Fumimasa HORIKIRI, Masatomo SHIBATA
  • Publication number: 20190292682
    Abstract: There is provided a method of manufacturing a crystal substrate, including: preparing a first crystal body which is a substrate comprising a single crystal of group III nitride produced by a vapor phase method and having a first main surface, and in which c-plane of the single crystal is curved in a concave spherical shape with a predetermined curvature; and growing a second crystal body comprising a single crystal of group III nitride on the first main surface, in a mixed melt containing an alkali metal and a group III element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2019
    Publication date: September 26, 2019
    Inventors: Takehiro YOSHIDA, Masatomo SHIBATA, Seiji SARAYAMA, Takashi SATO, Naoya MIYOSHI, Akishige MURAKAMI
  • Publication number: 20190198312
    Abstract: To provide a technique of increasing a radius of curvature of (0001) plane, and narrowing an off-angle distribution, there is provided a nitride semiconductor substrate containing a group III nitride semiconductor crystal and having a main surface in which a nearest low index crystal plane is (0001) plane, wherein (0001) plane in one of a direction along <1-100> axis and a direction along <11-20> axis orthogonal to the <1-100> axis, is curved in a concave spherical shape with respect to the main surface, and a radius of curvature of the (0001) plane in one of the direction along the <1-100> axis and the direction along the <11-20> axis orthogonal to the <1-100> axis is different from a radius of curvature of at least a part of the (0001) plane in the other direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Publication date: June 27, 2019
    Inventors: Takehiro YOSHIDA, Hajime FUJIKURA, Masatomo SHIBATA, Fumimasa HORIKIRI
  • Patent number: 10309036
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a group III nitride semiconductor crystal substrate includes providing, as a seed crystal substrate, a group III nitride single crystal grown by a liquid phase growth method, and homoepitaxially growing a group III nitride single crystal by a vapor phase growth method on a principal surface of the seed crystal substrate. The principal surface of the seed crystal substrate is a +c-plane, and the seed crystal substrate has an atomic oxygen concentration of not more than 1×1017 cm?3 in a crystal near the principal surface over an entire in-plane region thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    Assignees: OSAKA UNIVERSITY, SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Yusuke Mori, Masashi Yoshimura, Mamoru Imade, Masatomo Shibata, Takehiro Yoshida
  • Patent number: 10290489
    Abstract: There is provided a method for manufacturing a group-III nitride substrate, including: (a) preparing a substrate which is made of a group III-nitride crystal and which has a high oxygen concentration domain where an oxygen concentration is higher than that of a matrix of the crystal; (b) irradiating the substrate with laser beam aiming at the high oxygen concentration domain, forming a through-hole penetrating the substrate in a thickness direction, and removing at least a part of the high oxygen concentration domain from the substrate; and (c) embedding at least a part of an inside of the through-hole by growing the group-III nitride crystal in the through-hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignees: Sciocs Company Limited, Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited
    Inventors: Toshio Kitamura, Masatomo Shibata, Takehiro Yoshida
  • Publication number: 20190119112
    Abstract: There is provided a nitride crystal substrate made of a nitride crystal with a diameter of 100 mm or more, having on its main surface: a continuous high dislocation density region and a plurality of low dislocation density regions divided by the high dislocation density region, with the main surface not including a polarity inversion domain.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2017
    Publication date: April 25, 2019
    Inventors: Takehiro YOSHIDA, Masatomo SHIBATA
  • Patent number: 10266965
    Abstract: A large Group III nitride crystal of high quality with few defects such as a distortion, a dislocation, and warping is produced by vapor phase epitaxy. A method for producing a Group III nitride crystal includes: a first Group III nitride crystal production process of producing a first Group III nitride crystal 1003 by liquid phase epitaxy; and a second Group III nitride crystal production process of producing a second Group III nitride crystal 1004 on the first crystal 1003 by vapor phase epitaxy. In the first Group III nitride crystal production process, the surfaces of seed crystals 1003a (preliminarily provided Group III nitride) are brought into contact with an alkali metal melt, a Group III element and nitrogen are cause to react with each other in a nitrogen-containing atmosphere in the alkali metal melt, and the Group III nitride crystals are bound together by growth of the Group III nitride crystals grown from the seed crystals 1003a to produce a first crystal 1003.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignees: Osaka University, Itochu Plastics Inc.
    Inventors: Yusuke Mori, Masashi Yoshimura, Mamoru Imade, Masashi Isemura, Akira Usui, Masatomo Shibata, Takehiro Yoshida
  • Patent number: 10260165
    Abstract: There is provided a method for manufacturing a nitride crystal substrate, including: arranging a plurality of seed crystal substrates made of a nitride crystal in a planar appearance, so that their main surfaces are parallel to each other and their lateral surfaces are in contact with each other; growing a first crystal film using a vapor-phase growth method on a surface of the plurality of seed crystal substrates arranged in the planar appearance, and preparing a combined substrate formed by combining the adjacent seed crystal substrates each other by the first crystal film; growing a second crystal film using a liquid-phase growth method on a main surface of the combined substrate so as to be embedded in a groove that exists at a combined part of the seed crystal substrates, and preparing a substrate for crystal growth having a smoothened main surface; and growing a third crystal film using the vapor-phase growth method, on the smoothed main surface of the substrate for crystal growth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2019
    Assignees: Osaka University, Sciocs Company Limited, Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited
    Inventors: Yusuke Mori, Masashi Yoshimura, Mamoru Imade, Masayuki Imanishi, Masatomo Shibata, Takehiro Yoshida
  • Patent number: 10253432
    Abstract: A semiconductor substrate manufacturing method includes: epitaxially growing a columnar III nitride semiconductor single crystal on a principal place of a circular substrate; removing a hollow cylindrical region at an outer peripheral edge side of the III nitride semiconductor single crystal to leave a solid columnar region at an inside of the hollow cylindrical region of the III nitride semiconductor single crystal; and slicing the solid columnar region after removing the hollow cylindrical region. The hollow cylindrical region is removed such that the shape of the III nitride semiconductor single crystal is always keeps an axial symmetry that a center axis of the III nitride semiconductor single crystal is defined as a symmetric axis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Masatomo Shibata, Takehiro Yoshida, Toshio Kitamura, Yukio Abe
  • Patent number: 10100434
    Abstract: A nitride semiconductor single crystal substrate manufacturing method includes providing a template that a first nitride semiconductor single crystal layer is hetero-epitaxially grown on a heterogeneous substrate, forming a plurality of linear grooves on a surface of the template that have a depth reaching an inside of the heterogeneous substrate, wherein a pattern of the plurality of the linear grooves has three-fold or six-fold rotational symmetry with respect to a central axis of the template, epitaxially growing a second nitride semiconductor single crystal layer on the template with the plurality of the linear grooves formed thereon, and cutting a nitride semiconductor single crystal substrate from the second nitride semiconductor single crystal layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2018
    Assignee: SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Masatomo Shibata, Takehiro Yoshida, Takayuki Suzuki, Yukio Abe
  • Publication number: 20180114692
    Abstract: There is provided a method for manufacturing a group-III nitride substrate, including: (a) preparing a substrate which is made of a group III-nitride crystal and which has a high oxygen concentration domain where an oxygen concentration is higher than that of a matrix of the crystal; (b) irradiating the substrate with laser beam aiming at the high oxygen concentration domain, forming a through-hole penetrating the substrate in a thickness direction, and removing at least a part of the high oxygen concentration domain from the substrate; and (c) embedding at least a part of an inside of the through-hole by growing the group-III nitride crystal in the through-hole.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 20, 2017
    Publication date: April 26, 2018
    Applicants: SCIOCS COMPANY LIMITED, SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Toshio KITAMURA, Masatomo SHIBATA, Takehiro YOSHIDA
  • Publication number: 20180038010
    Abstract: A method for manufacturing a group III nitride semiconductor crystal substrate includes providing, as a seed crystal substrate, a group III nitride single crystal grown by a liquid phase growth method, and homoepitaxially growing a group III nitride single crystal by a vapor phase growth method on a principal surface of the seed crystal substrate. The principal surface of the seed crystal substrate is a +c-plane, and the seed crystal substrate has an atomic oxygen concentration of not more than 1×1017 cm?3 in a crystal near the principal surface over an entire in-plane region thereof.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2016
    Publication date: February 8, 2018
    Inventors: Yusuke MORI, Masashi YOSHIMURA, Mamoru IMADE, Masatomo SHIBATA, Takehiro YOSHIDA
  • Publication number: 20170314157
    Abstract: A high-quality nitride crystal substrate is manufactured, using a substrate for crystal growth with its diameter enlarged, the nitride crystal substrate including: a first step of preparing a substrate for crystal growth having a plurality of seed crystal substrates made of nitride crystals, arranged in a planar appearance, so that their main surfaces are parallel to each other and their lateral surfaces are in contact with each other, and a difference of a lattice constant between adjacent seed crystal substrates arbitrarily selected from a plurality of the seed crystal substrates is within 7×10?5 ?; and a second step of growing a crystal film on a ground surface belonging to the substrate for crystal growth.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2017
    Publication date: November 2, 2017
    Applicants: OSAKA UNIVERSITY, SCIOCS COMPANY LIMITED, SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Yusuke MORI, Masashi YOSHIMURA, Mamoru IMADE, Masayuki IMANISHI, Masatomo SHIBATA, Takehiro YOSHIDA
  • Publication number: 20170191186
    Abstract: There is provided a method for manufacturing a nitride crystal substrate, including: arranging a plurality of seed crystal substrates made of a nitride crystal in a planar appearance, so that their main surfaces are parallel to each other and their lateral surfaces are in contact with each other; growing a first crystal film using a vapor-phase growth method on a surface of the plurality of seed crystal substrates arranged in the planar appearance, and preparing a combined substrate formed by combining the adjacent seed crystal substrates each other by the first crystal film; growing a second crystal film using a liquid-phase growth method on a main surface of the combined substrate so as to be embedded in a groove that exists at a combined part of the seed crystal substrates, and preparing a substrate for crystal growth having a smoothened main surface; and growing a third crystal film using the vapor-phase growth method, on the smoothed main surface of the substrate for crystal growth.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 4, 2017
    Publication date: July 6, 2017
    Applicants: OSAKA UNIVERSITY, SCIOCS COMPANY LIMITED, SUMITOMO CHEMICAL COMPANY, LIMITED
    Inventors: Yusuke MORI, Masashi YOSHIMURA, Mamoru IMADE, Masayuki IMANISHI, Masatomo SHIBATA, Takehiro YOSHIDA
  • Publication number: 20170073839
    Abstract: A large Group III nitride crystal of high quality with few defects such as a distortion, a dislocation, and warping is produced by vapor phase epitaxy. A method for producing a Group III nitride crystal includes: a first Group III nitride crystal production process of producing a first Group III nitride crystal 1003 by liquid phase epitaxy; and a second Group III nitride crystal production process of producing a second Group III nitride crystal 1004 on the first crystal 1003 by vapor phase epitaxy. In the first Group III nitride crystal production process, the surfaces of seed crystals 1003a (preliminarily provided Group III nitride) are brought into contact with an alkali metal melt, a Group III element and nitrogen are cause to react with each other in a nitrogen-containing atmosphere in the alkali metal melt, and the Group III nitride crystals are bound together by growth of the Group III nitride crystals grown from the seed crystals 1003a to produce a first crystal 1003.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2015
    Publication date: March 16, 2017
    Inventors: Yusuke MORI, Masashi YOSHIMURA, Mamoru IMADE, Masashi ISEMURA, Akira USUI, Masatomo SHIBATA, Takehiro YOSHIDA