Patents by Inventor Mitsuhiro Ichijo

Mitsuhiro Ichijo 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: 9917209
    Abstract: A miniaturized transistor is provided. A first layer is formed over a third insulator over a semiconductor; a second layer is formed over the first layer; an etching mask is formed over the second layer; the second layer is etched using the etching mask until the first layer is exposed to form a third layer; a selective growth layer is formed on a top surface and a side surface of the third layer; the first layer is etched using the third layer and the selective growth layer until the third insulator is exposed to form a fourth layer; and the third insulator is etched using the third layer, the selective growth layer, and the fourth layer until the semiconductor is exposed to form a first insulator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 24, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuta Endo, Hideomi Suzawa, Sachiaki Tezuka, Tetsuhiro Tanaka, Toshiya Endo, Mitsuhiro Ichijo
  • Publication number: 20180047753
    Abstract: A nitride insulating film which prevents diffusion of hydrogen into an oxide semiconductor film in a transistor including an oxide semiconductor is provided. Further, a semiconductor device which has favorable electrical characteristics by using a transistor including a silicon semiconductor and a transistor including an oxide semiconductor is provided. Two nitride insulating films having different functions are provided between the transistor including a silicon semiconductor and the transistor including an oxide semiconductor. Specifically, a first nitride insulating film which contains hydrogen is provided over the transistor including a silicon semiconductor, and a second nitride insulating film which has a lower hydrogen content than the first nitride insulating film and functions as a barrier film against hydrogen is provided between the first nitride insulating film and the transistor including an oxide semiconductor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 3, 2017
    Publication date: February 15, 2018
    Inventors: Shunpei YAMAZAKI, Tetsuhiro TANAKA, Yoshinori IEDA, Toshiyuki MIYAMOTO, Masafumi NOMURA, Takashi HAMOCHI, Kenichi OKAZAKI, Mitsuhiro ICHIJO, Toshiya ENDO
  • Patent number: 9852850
    Abstract: A power storage device with high capacity is provided. Alternatively, a power storage device with excellent cycle characteristics is provided. Alternatively, a power storage device with high charge and discharge efficiency is provided. Alternatively, a power storage device with a long lifetime is provided. A negative electrode active material is provided over a negative electrode current collector, and the negative electrode active material layer is formed in such a manner that first layers and second layers are alternately stacked. The first layer includes at least an element selected from Si, Mg, Ca, Ga, Al, Ge, Sn, Pb, Sb, Bi, Ag, Zn, Cd, As, Hg, and In. The second layer includes oxygen and the same element as the one included in the first layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2017
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Nobuhiro Inoue, Ryota Tajima, Kazutaka Kuriki, Mitsuhiro Ichijo, Yoshikazu Hiura, Mai Sugikawa
  • Publication number: 20170358638
    Abstract: In the case where a material containing an alkaline-earth metal in a cathode, is used, there is a fear of the diffusion of an impurity ion (such as alkaline-earth metal ion) from the EL element to the TFT being generated and causing the variation of characteristics of the TFT. Therefore, as the insulating film provided between TFT and EL element, a film containing a material for not only blocking the diffusion of an impurity ion such as an alkaline-earth metal ion but also aggressively absorbing an impurity ion such as an alkaline-earth metal ion is used.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2017
    Publication date: December 14, 2017
    Inventors: Satoshi MURAKAMI, Mitsuhiro ICHIJO, Taketomi ASAMI
  • Patent number: 9842939
    Abstract: In a transistor having a top-gate structure in which a gate electrode layer overlaps with an oxide semiconductor layer which faints a channel region with a gate insulating layer interposed therebetween, when a large amount of hydrogen is contained in the insulating layer, hydrogen is diffused into the oxide semiconductor layer because the insulating layer is in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer; thus, electric characteristics of the transistor are degraded. An object is to provide a semiconductor device having favorable electric characteristics. An insulating layer in which the concentration of hydrogen is less than 6×1020 atoms/cm3 is used for the insulating layer being in contact with oxide semiconductor layer which forms the channel region. Using the insulating layer, diffusion of hydrogen can be prevented and a semiconductor device having favorable electric characteristics can be provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 12, 2017
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuta Endo, Toshinari Sasaki, Kosei Noda, Mizuho Sato, Mitsuhiro Ichijo, Toshiya Endo
  • Publication number: 20170352746
    Abstract: A change in electrical characteristics is suppressed and reliability in a semiconductor device using a transistor including an oxide semiconductor is improved. Oxygen is introduced into a surface of an insulating film, and then, an oxide semiconductor, a layer which is capable of blocking oxygen, a gate insulating film, and other films which composes a transistor are formed. For at least one of the first gate insulating film and the insulating film, three signals in Electron Spin Resonance Measurement are each observed in a certain range of g-factor. Reducing the sum of the spin densities of the signals will improve reliability of the semiconductor device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2017
    Publication date: December 7, 2017
    Inventors: Shunpei YAMAZAKI, Akihisa SHIMOMURA, Yasumasa YAMANE, Yuhei SATO, Tetsuhiro TANAKA, Masashi TSUBUKU, Toshihiko TAKEUCHI, Ryo TOKUMARU, Mitsuhiro ICHIJO, Satoshi TORIUMI, Takashi OHTSUKI, Toshiya ENDO
  • Patent number: 9806201
    Abstract: A method for forming an oxide that can be used as a semiconductor of a transistor or the like is provided. In particular, a method for forming an oxide with fewer defects such as grain boundaries is provided. One embodiment of the present invention is a semiconductor device including an oxide semiconductor, an insulator, and a conductor. The oxide semiconductor includes a region overlapping with the conductor with the insulator therebetween. The oxide semiconductor includes a crystal grain with an equivalent circle diameter of 1 nm or more and a crystal grain with an equivalent circle diameter less than 1 nm.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Yoshinori Yamada, Yusuke Nonaka, Masashi Oota, Yoichi Kurosawa, Noritaka Ishihara, Takashi Hamada, Mitsuhiro Ichijo, Yuji Egi
  • Patent number: 9793295
    Abstract: A nitride insulating film which prevents diffusion of hydrogen into an oxide semiconductor film in a transistor including an oxide semiconductor is provided. Further, a semiconductor device which has favorable electrical characteristics by using a transistor including a silicon semiconductor and a transistor including an oxide semiconductor is provided. Two nitride insulating films having different functions are provided between the transistor including a silicon semiconductor and the transistor including an oxide semiconductor. Specifically, a first nitride insulating film which contains hydrogen is provided over the transistor including a silicon semiconductor, and a second nitride insulating film which has a lower hydrogen content than the first nitride insulating film and functions as a barrier film against hydrogen is provided between the first nitride insulating film and the transistor including an oxide semiconductor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Tetsuhiro Tanaka, Yoshinori Ieda, Toshiyuki Miyamoto, Masafumi Nomura, Takashi Hamochi, Kenichi Okazaki, Mitsuhiro Ichijo, Toshiya Endo
  • Patent number: 9786495
    Abstract: A method for evaluating a semiconductor film of a semiconductor device which is configured to include an insulating film, the semiconductor film, and a conductive film and to have a region where the semiconductor film and the conductive film overlap with each other with the insulating film provided therebetween, includes a step of performing plasma treatment after formation of the insulating film, and a step of calculating a peak value of resistivity of a microwave in the semiconductor film by a microwave photoconductive decay method after the plasma treatment, so that the hydrogen concentration in the semiconductor film is estimated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 10, 2017
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihisa Shimomura, Naoki Okuno, Mitsuhiro Ichijo, Noriyoshi Suzuki, Tetsuhiro Tanaka, Sachiaki Tezuka
  • Patent number: 9761645
    Abstract: In the case where a material containing an alkaline-earth metal in a cathode, is used, there is a fear of the diffusion of an impurity ion (such as alkaline-earth metal ion) from the EL element to the TFT being generated and causing the variation of characteristics of the TFT. Therefore, as the insulating film provided between TFT and EL element, a film containing a material for not only blocking the diffusion of an impurity ion such as an alkaline-earth metal ion but also aggressively absorbing an impurity ion such as an alkaline-earth metal ion is used.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2017
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Murakami, Mitsuhiro Ichijo, Taketomi Asami
  • Patent number: 9722056
    Abstract: A change in electrical characteristics is suppressed and reliability in a semiconductor device using a transistor including an oxide semiconductor is improved. Oxygen is introduced into a surface of an insulating film, and then, an oxide semiconductor, a layer which is capable of blocking oxygen, a gate insulating film, and other films which composes a transistor are formed. For at least one of the first gate insulating film and the insulating film, three signals in Electron Spin Resonance Measurement are each observed in a certain range of g-factor. Reducing the sum of the spin densities of the signals will improve reliability of the semiconductor device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Akihisa Shimomura, Yasumasa Yamane, Yuhei Sato, Tetsuhiro Tanaka, Masashi Tsubuku, Toshihiko Takeuchi, Ryo Tokumaru, Mitsuhiro Ichijo, Satoshi Toriumi, Takashi Ohtsuki, Toshiya Endo
  • Publication number: 20170186779
    Abstract: A highly reliable semiconductor device which includes an oxide semiconductor is provided. Alternatively, a transistor having normally-off characteristics which includes an oxide semiconductor is provided. The transistor includes a first conductor, a first insulator, a second insulator, a third insulator, a first oxide, an oxide semiconductor, a second conductor, a second oxide, a fourth insulator, a third conductor, a fourth conductor, a fifth insulator, and a sixth insulator. The second conductor is separated from the sixth insulator by the second oxide. The third conductor and the fourth conductor are separated from the sixth insulator by the fifth insulator. The second oxide has a function of suppressing permeation of oxygen as long as oxygen contained in the sixth insulator is sufficiently supplied to the oxide semiconductor through the second oxide. The fifth insulator has a barrier property against oxygen.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2016
    Publication date: June 29, 2017
    Inventors: Daigo ITO, Takahisa ISHIYAMA, Katsuaki TOCHIBAYASHI, Yoshinori ANDO, Yasutaka SUZUKI, Mitsuhiro ICHIJO, Toshiya ENDO, Shunpei YAMAZAKI
  • Patent number: 9685561
    Abstract: An object is to provide a semiconductor device having good electrical characteristics. A gate insulating layer having a hydrogen concentration less than 6×1020 atoms/cm3 and a fluorine concentration greater than or equal to 1×1020 atoms/cm3 is used as a gate insulating layer in contact with an oxide semiconductor layer forming a channel region, so that the amount of hydrogen released from the gate insulating layer can be reduced and diffusion of hydrogen into the oxide semiconductor layer can be prevented. Further, hydrogen present in the oxide semiconductor layer can be eliminated with the use of fluorine; thus, the hydrogen content in the oxide semiconductor layer can be reduced. Consequently, the semiconductor device having good electrical characteristics can be provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2017
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratories Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Mitsuhiro Ichijo, Toshiya Endo, Kunihiko Suzuki
  • Publication number: 20170054934
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a highly reliable display device at a low cost with high yield. According to the present invention, a step due to an opening in a contact is covered with an insulating layer to reduce the step, and is processed into a gentle shape. A wiring or the like is formed to be in contact with the insulating layer and thus the coverage of the wiring or the like is enhanced. In addition, deterioration of a light-emitting element due to contaminants such as water can be prevented by sealing a layer including an organic material that has water permeability in a display device with a sealing material. Since the sealing material is formed in a portion of a driver circuit region in the display device, the frame margin of the display device can be narrowed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2016
    Publication date: February 23, 2017
    Inventors: Shunpei YAMAZAKI, Satoshi MURAKAMI, Motomu KURATA, Hiroyuki HATA, Mitsuhiro ICHIJO, Takashi OHTSUKI, Aya ANZAI, Masayuki SAKAKURA
  • Publication number: 20170033234
    Abstract: One object is to provide a semiconductor device including an oxide semiconductor, which has stable electric characteristics and high reliability. Another object is to manufacture a highly reliable semiconductor device in a high yield. In a top-gate staggered transistor including an oxide semiconductor film, as a first gate insulating film in contact with the oxide semiconductor film, a silicon oxide film is formed by a plasma CVD method with use of a deposition gas containing silicon fluoride and oxygen; and as a second gate insulating film stacked over the first gate insulating film, a silicon oxide film is formed by a plasma CVD method with use of a deposition gas containing silicon hydride and oxygen.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2016
    Publication date: February 2, 2017
    Inventors: Kunio KIMURA, Mitsuhiro ICHIJO, Toshiya ENDO
  • Publication number: 20170018631
    Abstract: A change in electrical characteristics is suppressed and reliability in a semiconductor device using a transistor including an oxide semiconductor is improved. The semiconductor device includes an oxide semiconductor film over an insulating surface, an antioxidant film over the insulating surface and the oxide semiconductor film, a pair of electrodes in contact with the antioxidant film, a gate insulating film over the pair of electrodes, and a gate electrode which is over the gate insulating film and overlaps with the oxide semiconductor film. In the antioxidant film, a width of a region overlapping with the pair of electrodes is longer than a width of a region not overlapping with the pair of electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2016
    Publication date: January 19, 2017
    Inventors: Shunpei YAMAZAKI, Akihisa SHIMOMURA, Yasumasa YAMANE, Yuhei SATO, Tetsuhiro TANAKA, Masashi TSUBUKU, Toshihiko TAKEUCHI, Ryo TOKUMARU, Mitsuhiro ICHIJO, Satoshi TORIUMI, Takashi OHTSUKI, Toshiya ENDO
  • Patent number: 9543577
    Abstract: An electrode in which a silicon layer is provided over a current collector, a thin film layer having a thickness within a certain range is provided on a surface of the silicon layer, and the thin film layer contains fluorine, is used for a power storage device. The thickness of the thin film layer containing fluorine is greater than 0 nm and less than or equal to 10 nm, preferably greater than or equal to 4 nm and less than or equal to 9 nm. The fluorine concentration of the thin film layer containing fluorine is preferably as high as possible, and the nitrogen concentration, the oxygen concentration, and the hydrogen concentration thereof are preferably as low as possible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2017
    Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kazutaka Kuriki, Mitsuhiro Ichijo, Toshiya Endo
  • Publication number: 20170005203
    Abstract: A miniaturized transistor is provided. A first layer is formed over a third insulator over a semiconductor; a second layer is formed over the first layer; an etching mask is formed over the second layer; the second layer is etched using the etching mask until the first layer is exposed to form a third layer; a selective growth layer is formed on a top surface and a side surface of the third layer; the first layer is etched using the third layer and the selective growth layer until the third insulator is exposed to form a fourth layer; and the third insulator is etched using the third layer, the selective growth layer, and the fourth layer until the semiconductor is exposed to form a first insulator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 24, 2016
    Publication date: January 5, 2017
    Inventors: Yuta ENDO, Hideomi SUZAWA, Sachiaki TEZUKA, Tetsuhiro TANAKA, Toshiya ENDO, Mitsuhiro ICHIJO
  • Publication number: 20160380106
    Abstract: In a transistor having a top-gate structure in which a gate electrode layer overlaps with an oxide semiconductor layer which faints a channel region with a gate insulating layer interposed therebetween, when a large amount of hydrogen is contained in the insulating layer, hydrogen is diffused into the oxide semiconductor layer because the insulating layer is in contact with the oxide semiconductor layer; thus, electric characteristics of the transistor are degraded. An object is to provide a semiconductor device having favorable electric characteristics. An insulating layer in which the concentration of hydrogen is less than 6×1020 atoms/cm3 is used for the insulating layer being in contact with oxide semiconductor layer which forms the channel region. Using the insulating layer, diffusion of hydrogen can be prevented and a semiconductor device having favorable electric characteristics can be provided.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2016
    Publication date: December 29, 2016
    Inventors: Yuta ENDO, Toshinari SASAKI, Kosei NODA, Mizuho SATO, Mitsuhiro ICHIJO, Toshiya ENDO
  • Publication number: 20160372492
    Abstract: A nitride insulating film which prevents diffusion of hydrogen into an oxide semiconductor film in a transistor including an oxide semiconductor is provided. Further, a semiconductor device which has favorable electrical characteristics by using a transistor including a silicon semiconductor and a transistor including an oxide semiconductor is provided. Two nitride insulating films having different functions are provided between the transistor including a silicon semiconductor and the transistor including an oxide semiconductor. Specifically, a first nitride insulating film which contains hydrogen is provided over the transistor including a silicon semiconductor, and a second nitride insulating film which has a lower hydrogen content than the first nitride insulating film and functions as a barrier film against hydrogen is provided between the first nitride insulating film and the transistor including an oxide semiconductor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2016
    Publication date: December 22, 2016
    Inventors: Shunpei YAMAZAKI, Tetsuhiro TANAKA, Yoshinori IEDA, Toshiyuki MIYAMOTO, Masafumi NOMURA, Takashi HAMOCHI, Kenichi OKAZAKI, Mitsuhiro ICHIJO, Toshiya ENDO