Patents by Inventor Munehiro Ogasawara

Munehiro Ogasawara 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: 20250149290
    Abstract: A multiple-beam image acquisition apparatus includes a stage to mount thereon a target object, a mark member, arranged on the stage, to include a base body having at least a surface made from the first material, plural isolated patterns, formed on the base body, having the same positional relationship as plural irradiation positions, flush in height with the surface of the target object, of plural beams having been determined previously in multiple primary electron beams, and being made from a material different from the first material, and an alignment mark, an electron optical system to irradiate the mark member with the multiple primary electron beams in the state where alignment of the multiple primary electron beams has been performed using the alignment mark, and a multi-detector to detect multiple secondary electron beams emitted from the mark member because the mark member is irradiated with the multiple primary electron beams.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 3, 2025
    Publication date: May 8, 2025
    Applicant: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Koichi ISHII, Munehiro OGASAWARA, Yosuke ITO, Atsushi ANDO
  • Publication number: 20250132119
    Abstract: According to one aspect of the present invention, a multi-electron beam image acquisition apparatus, includes: a plurality of first electrostatic deflectors in two stages, each of the first electrostatic deflectors having a plurality of electrodes of quadrupoles or more, configured to deflect multiple primary electron beams collectively to scan a substrate with the multiple primary electron beams; a potential application circuit configured to apply a retarding potential to the substrate; a first determination circuit configured to determine a first phase difference of deflection directions for the plurality of first electrostatic deflectors so as to reduce aberration caused by deflection of the multiple primary electron beams according to a magnitude of the retarding potential; and a deflection control circuit configured to apply an individual potential according to the first phase difference of the deflection directions to each electrode of the plurality of first electrostatic deflectors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 3, 2025
    Publication date: April 24, 2025
    Applicant: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko INOUE, Munehiro OGASAWARA, Masataka SHIRATSUCHI
  • Publication number: 20250095951
    Abstract: An electronic component according to an embodiment includes: a first substrate including first through holes, a first substrate surface and a second substrate surface; first electrodes provided on each of the first through holes, and including a first end and a second end; second electrodes provided on each of the first through holes, facing each of the first electrodes, and including a third end facing the first end and a fourth end facing the second end; third electrodes connected to the first end and extending toward the third end; fourth electrodes connected to the second end and extending toward the fourth end; fifth electrodes connected to the third end, provided separately from each of the third electrodes and extending toward the first end; sixth electrodes connected to the fourth end, provided separately from each of the fourth electrodes and extending toward the second end.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2024
    Publication date: March 20, 2025
    Applicants: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA, NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuyuki HIGASHI, Kazumichi TSUMURA, Tomohiro SAITO, Takashi YODA, Munehiro OGASAWARA, Kenji HIRAKAWA, Masayuki IWASE
  • Patent number: 12009174
    Abstract: A blanking deflector according to an embodiment includes: a first electrode comprising a first insulator, a first material film coating all surfaces of the first insulator and having lower resistance than the first insulator, and a first low-resistance film coating part or all of surfaces of the first material film and having lower resistance than the first material film; and a second electrode comprising a second insulator, a second material film coating all surfaces of the second insulator and having lower resistance than the second insulator, and a second low-resistance film coating part or all of surfaces of the second material film and having lower resistance than the second material film, wherein the blanking deflector controls whether to irradiate a specimen with a charged particle beam by causing the charged particle beam to pass between the first electrode and the second electrode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2024
    Assignee: NUFLARE TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Kishi, Munehiro Ogasawara
  • Publication number: 20240079200
    Abstract: A multi-electron beam image acquiring apparatus includes a stage configured to mount thereon a substrate, an illumination optical system configured to apply multiple primary electron beams to the substrate, a plurality of multipole lenses including at least two stages of multipole lenses, arranged at positions common to a trajectory of the multiple primary electron beams and a trajectory of multiple secondary electron beams which are emitted because the substrate is irradiated with the multiple primary electron beams and each configured to include at least four electrodes and at least four magnetic poles, and a multi-detector configured to detect the multiple secondary electron beams separated from the trajectory of the multiple primary electron beams, wherein one of the plurality of multipole lenses separates the multiple secondary electron beams from the trajectory of the multiple primary electron beams.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2023
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Applicant: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko INOUE, Atsushi ANDO, Munehiro OGASAWARA
  • Patent number: 11804361
    Abstract: In a charged particle beam writing method according to one embodiment, a deflector is caused to deflect a charged particle beam and a pattern is written by irradiating a substrate with the charged particle beam. The charged particle beam writing method includes calculating a charge amount distribution based on a charge amount of a beam irradiation region on the substrate immediately after irradiation with the charged particle beam and a diffusion coefficient for electric charge of the substrate, calculating a position shift distribution of the charged particle beam on the substrate based on the charge amount distribution, and correcting an irradiation position of the charged particle beam based on the position shift distribution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Haruyuki Nomura, Noriaki Nakayamada, Munehiro Ogasawara
  • Publication number: 20230335368
    Abstract: An electromagnetic lens includes a coil, and a pole piece configured to include an upper wall, a lower wall, an outer peripheral wall and an inner peripheral wall which are formed using a conductive magnetic material, to surround the coil by the upper wall, the lower wall, the outer peripheral wall and the inner peripheral wall, one of opposite facing surfaces of an upper part and a lower part of the inner peripheral wall and opposite facing surfaces of the upper wall and the inner peripheral wall being insulated electrically, the outer peripheral wall including a laminated structure where a magnetic material and an insulator are alternately laminated in a direction of a central axis of a trajectory of a passing electron beam, and to be covered at least the laminated structure of the outer peripheral wall with an insulator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2023
    Publication date: October 19, 2023
    Applicant: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Munehiro OGASAWARA, Atsushi ANDO, Kazuhiko INOUE
  • Patent number: 11694868
    Abstract: According to one aspect of the present invention, a multi-beam image acquisition apparatus, includes: an objective lens configured to image multiple primary electron beams on a substrate by using the multiple primary electron beams; a separator configured to have two or more electrodes for forming an electric field and two or more magnetic poles for forming a magnetic field and configured to separate multiple secondary electron beams emitted due to the substrate being irradiated with the multiple primary electron beams from trajectories of the multiple primary electron beams by the electric field and the magnetic field formed; a deflector configured to deflect the multiple secondary electron beams separated; a lens arranged between the objective lens and the deflector and configured to image the multiple secondary electron beams at a deflection point of the deflector; and a detector configured to detect the deflected multiple secondary electron beams.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2022
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Inoue, Munehiro Ogasawara, Atsushi Ando
  • Publication number: 20230102715
    Abstract: A multi-electron beam image acquisition apparatus includes: a first electromagnetic lens configured to focus the multiple primary electron beams to form an image on the substrate; and a second electromagnetic lens configured to be able to variably adjust a peak position of a magnetic field distribution in a direction of a trajectory central axis of the multiple secondary electron beams, and to focus the multiple secondary electron beams to form an image on either one of a detection surface of the detector and a position conjugate to the detection surface, wherein the first electromagnetic lens focuses, to form an image, the multiple secondary electron beams in a state before being separated from the multiple primary electron beams, and the second electromagnetic lens is arranged between the separator and an image forming point on which the multiple secondary electron beams are focused by the first electromagnetic lens.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2022
    Publication date: March 30, 2023
    Applicant: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko INOUE, Munehiro OGASAWARA
  • Publication number: 20230077403
    Abstract: A multi-electron beam image acquisition apparatus includes a multiple-beam forming mechanism to form multiple primary electron beams, a primary-electron optical system to irradiate 1a sample with the multiple primary electron beams, a beam separator, arranged at a position conjugate to an image plane of each of the multiple primary electron beams, to form an electric field and a magnetic field to be mutually perpendicular, to separate multiple secondary electron beams, emitted from the sample due to irradiation with the multiple primary electron beams, from the multiple primary electron beams by using actions of the electric field and the magnetic field, and to have a lens action on the multiple secondary electron beams in at least one of the electric field and the magnetic field, a multi-detector to detect the multiple secondary electron beams, and a secondary-electron optical system to lead the multiple secondary electron beams to the multi-detector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2022
    Publication date: March 16, 2023
    Applicant: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko INOUE, Munehiro OGASAWARA
  • Patent number: 11605523
    Abstract: Aberration corrector includes a lower electrode substrate to be formed therein with plural first passage holes having a first hole diameter and making multiple electron beams pass therethrough, and to be arranged thereon plural electrode sets each being plural electrodes of four or more poles, surrounding a first passage hole, for each of the plural first passage holes, and an upper electrode substrate above the lower one, to be formed therein with plural second passage holes making multiple electron beams pass therethrough, whose size from the top of the upper electrode substrate to the middle of way to the back side of the upper electrode substrate is a second hole diameter, and whose size from the middle to the back side is a third hole diameter larger than each of the first and second hole diameters, wherein a shield electrode is on inner walls of plural second passage holes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2023
    Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Inoue, Munehiro Ogasawara
  • Patent number: 11574793
    Abstract: Aberration corrector includes a lower electrode substrate to be formed therein with plural first passage holes having a first hole diameter and making multiple electron beams pass therethrough, and to be arranged thereon plural electrode sets each being plural electrodes of four or more poles, surrounding a first passage hole, for each of the plural first passage holes, and an upper electrode substrate above the lower one, to be formed therein with plural second passage holes making multiple electron beams pass therethrough, whose size from the top of the upper electrode substrate to the middle of way to the back side of the upper electrode substrate is a second hole diameter, and whose size from the middle to the back side is a third hole diameter larger than each of the first and second hole diameters, wherein a shield electrode is on inner walls of plural second passage holes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2023
    Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Inoue, Munehiro Ogasawara
  • Publication number: 20220384142
    Abstract: In a charged particle beam writing method according to one embodiment, a deflector is caused to deflect a charged particle beam and a pattern is written by irradiating a substrate with the charged particle beam. The charged particle beam writing method includes calculating a charge amount distribution based on a charge amount of a beam irradiation region on the substrate immediately after irradiation with the charged particle beam and a diffusion coefficient for electric charge of the substrate, calculating a position shift distribution of the charged particle beam on the substrate based on the charge amount distribution, and correcting an irradiation position of the charged particle beam based on the position shift distribution.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2022
    Publication date: December 1, 2022
    Applicant: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Haruyuki Nomura, Noriaki Nakayamada, Munehiro Ogasawara
  • Patent number: 11417495
    Abstract: A multi-charged particle beam irradiation apparatus includes a forming mechanism to form multiple charged particle beams, a multipole deflector array to individually deflect each beam of the multiple charged particle beams so that a center axis trajectory of each beam of the multiple charged particle beams may not converge in a region of the same plane orthogonal to the direction of a central axis of a trajectory of the multiple charged particle beams, and an electron optical system to irradiate a substrate with the multiple charged particle beams while maintaining a state where the multiple charged particle beams are not converged.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2022
    Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Inoue, Masataka Shiratsuchi, Munehiro Ogasawara
  • Publication number: 20220230837
    Abstract: According to one aspect of the present invention, a multi-beam image acquisition apparatus, includes: an objective lens configured to image multiple primary electron beams on a substrate by using the multiple primary electron beams; a separator configured to have two or more electrodes for forming an electric field and two or more magnetic poles for forming a magnetic field and configured to separate multiple secondary electron beams emitted due to the substrate being irradiated with the multiple primary electron beams from trajectories of the multiple primary electron beams by the electric field and the magnetic field formed; a deflector configured to deflect the multiple secondary electron beams separated; a lens arranged between the objective lens and the deflector and configured to image the multiple secondary electron beams at a deflection point of the deflector; and a detector configured to detect the deflected multiple secondary electron beams.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 4, 2022
    Publication date: July 21, 2022
    Applicant: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko INOUE, Munehiro OGASAWARA, Atsushi ANDO
  • Publication number: 20220172919
    Abstract: A blanking deflector according to an embodiment includes: a first electrode comprising a first insulator, a first material film coating all surfaces of the first insulator and having lower resistance than the first insulator, and a first low-resistance film coating part or all of surfaces of the first material film and having lower resistance than the first material film; and a second electrode comprising a second insulator, a second material film coating all surfaces of the second insulator and having lower resistance than the second insulator, and a second low-resistance film coating part or all of surfaces of the second material film and having lower resistance than the second material film, wherein the blanking deflector controls whether to irradiate a specimen with a charged particle beam by causing the charged particle beam to pass between the first electrode and the second electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 16, 2022
    Publication date: June 2, 2022
    Applicant: NUFLARE TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro KISHI, Munehiro OGASAWARA
  • Publication number: 20210319974
    Abstract: A multi-charged particle beam irradiation apparatus includes a forming mechanism to form multiple charged particle beams, a multipole deflector array to individually deflect each beam of the multiple charged particle beams so that a center axis trajectory of each beam of the multiple charged particle beams may not converge in a region of the same plane orthogonal to the direction of a central axis of a trajectory of the multiple charged particle beams, and an electron optical system to irradiate a substrate with the multiple charged particle beams while maintaining a state where the multiple charged particle beams are not converged.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 8, 2021
    Publication date: October 14, 2021
    Applicant: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko INOUE, Masataka SHIRATSUCHI, Munehiro OGASAWARA
  • Patent number: 11145485
    Abstract: A multiple electron beam irradiation apparatus includes a shaping aperture array substrate to form multiple primary electron beams, a plurality of electrode array substrates stacked each to dispose thereon a plurality of electrodes each arranged at a passage position of each of the multiple primary electron beams, each of the multiple primary electron beams surrounded by an electrode of the plurality of electrodes when each of the multiple primary electron beams passes through the passage position, the first wiring and the second wiring applied with one of different electric potentials, and a stage to mount thereon a target object to be irradiated with the multiple primary electron beams having passed through the plurality of electrode array substrates, wherein, in each of the plurality of electrode array substrates, each of the plurality of electrodes is electrically connected to either one of the first wiring and the second wiring.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2021
    Assignees: NuFlare Technology, Inc., NuFlare Technology America, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Inoue, Atsushi Ando, Munehiro Ogasawara, John Hartley
  • Patent number: 11139138
    Abstract: A multiple electron beam irradiation apparatus includes a forming mechanism which forms multiple primary electron beams; a plurality of electrode substrates being stacked in each of which a plurality of openings of various diameter dimensions are formed, the plurality of openings being arranged at passage positions of the multiple primary electron beams, and through each of which a corresponding one of the multiple primary electron beams passes, the plurality of electrode substrates being able to adjust an image plane conjugate position of each of the multiple primary electron beams depending on a corresponding one of the various diameter dimensions; and a stage which is capable of mounting thereon a target object to be irradiated with the multiple primary electron beams having passed through the plurality of electrode substrates.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2021
    Assignees: NuFlare Technology, Inc., NuFlare Technology America, Inc.
    Inventors: Kazuhiko Inoue, Atsushi Ando, Munehiro Ogasawara, John Hartley
  • Patent number: 10998164
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a charged particle beam writing apparatus includes an emitter emitting a charged particle beam, a first aperture shaping the charged particle beam, a second aperture shaping the charged particle beam transmitted through the first aperture, a projection lens projecting the charged particle beam transmitted through the first aperture on the second aperture, an object lens focusing the charged particle beam transmitted through the second aperture, the object lens being a magnetic field-type lens, and an electrostatic lens performing focus correction of the charged particle beam in accordance with a surface height of a substrate that is a writing target. The electrostatic lens is disposed inside the object lens, a positive voltage is applied to an electrode of the electrostatic lens. A strength of a magnetic field of the object lens at an upper end of the electrode has a predetermined value or less.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: NuFlare Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Takanao Touya, Hirofumi Morita, Munehiro Ogasawara