Patents by Inventor Naozumi Fujiwara

Naozumi Fujiwara 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: 11851745
    Abstract: A pre-drying processing liquid containing a sublimable substance that changes to gas without passing through to a liquid and a solvent in which the sublimable substance dissolves is supplied to a front surface of a substrate on which a pattern has been formed. Thereafter, the solvent is evaporated from the pre-drying processing liquid on the front surface of the substrate to thereby form a solidified body containing the sublimable substance on the front surface of the substrate. Thereafter, the solidified body is sublimated and thereby removed from the front surface of the substrate. A value acquired by multiplying a ratio of the thickness of the solidified body to the height of the pattern by 100 is greater than 76 and less than 219.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Inventors: Yuta Sasaki, Masayuki Otsuji, Naozumi Fujiwara, Masahiko Kato, Yu Yamaguchi, Hiroaki Takahashi
  • Publication number: 20220238327
    Abstract: A sublimable substance is selected on the basis of whether the surface of a pattern is hydrophilic or hydrophobic. In cases where the surface of a pattern is hydrophilic, a solvent for hydrophilic cases is selected, said solvent having lower solubility in water than the selected sublimable substance; and in cases where the surface of a pattern is hydrophobic, a solvent for hydrophobic cases is selected, said solvent having lower solubility in oils than the selected sublimable substance. The selected sublimable substance is dissolved in the selected solvent.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 26, 2020
    Publication date: July 28, 2022
    Inventors: Masayuki OTSUJI, Naozumi FUJIWARA, Yuta SASAKI
  • Publication number: 20210324509
    Abstract: A pre-drying processing liquid containing a sublimable substance that changes to gas without passing through to a liquid and a solvent in which the sublimable substance dissolves is supplied to a front surface of a substrate on which a pattern has been formed. Thereafter, the solvent is evaporated from the pre-drying processing liquid on the front surface of the substrate to thereby form a solidified body containing the sublimable substance on the front surface of the substrate. Thereafter, the solidified body is sublimated and thereby removed from the front surface of the substrate. A value acquired by multiplying a ratio of the thickness of the solidified body to the height of the pattern by 100 is greater than 76 and less than 219.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 30, 2021
    Publication date: October 21, 2021
    Inventors: Yuta SASAKI, Masayuki OTSUJI, Naozumi FUJIWARA, Masahiko KATO, Yu YAMAGUCHI, Hiroaki TAKAHASHI
  • Patent number: 11124869
    Abstract: A pre-drying processing liquid containing a sublimable substance that changes to gas without passing through to a liquid and a solvent in which the sublimable substance dissolves is supplied to a front surface of a substrate on which a pattern has been formed. Thereafter, the solvent is evaporated from the pre-drying processing liquid on the front surface of the substrate to thereby form a solidified body containing the sublimable substance on the front surface of the substrate. Thereafter, the solidified body is sublimated and thereby removed from the front surface of the substrate. A value acquired by multiplying a ratio of the thickness of the solidified body to the height of the pattern by 100 is greater than 76 and less than 219.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 21, 2021
    Inventors: Yuta Sasaki, Masayuki Otsuji, Naozumi Fujiwara, Masahiko Kato, Yu Yamaguchi, Hiroaki Takahashi
  • Patent number: 11033929
    Abstract: For a substrate having a diameter of 300 millimeters and a main surface on which a lot of pattern elements standing upright are formed, a processing using a processing liquid is performed on the main surface. After the processing using the processing liquid, a filler solution is applied onto the main surface. In the application process of the filler solution, pure water is supplied onto the main surface which faces upward while the substrate is in a horizontal state, and a liquid film of the pure water which covers the main surface and has a thickness not larger than 5 micrometers is formed by rotating the substrate. Then, the filler solution containing a water-soluble filler is supplied onto a center portion of the main surface while the substrate is rotated at the number of rotation not smaller than 300 times and not larger than 500 times per minute.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2021
    Inventor: Naozumi Fujiwara
  • Publication number: 20200381269
    Abstract: A substrate processing method includes a sublimable-substance-containing liquid film forming step of supplying a sublimable-substance-containing liquid to a surface of a substrate on which a pattern is formed, so that a liquid film of the sublimable-substance-containing liquid covering the surface of the substrate is formed on the surface of the substrate, a transition state film forming step of evaporating the solvent from the liquid film to form solids of the sublimable substance, so that a transition state film, that is in a pre-crystal transition state before the solids of the sublimable substance crystallize, is formed on the surface of the substrate, and a transition state film removing step of sublimating the solids of the sublimable substance on the surface of the substrate while maintaining the solids of the sublimable substance in the pre-crystal transition state, so that the transition state film from the surface of the substrate is removed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Publication date: December 3, 2020
    Inventors: Naozumi FUJIWARA, Masayuki OTSUJI, Masahiko KATO, Yu YAMAGUCHI
  • Patent number: 10651029
    Abstract: The controller is programmed to cause a low-surface-tension liquid supply unit to supply a liquid film of a low-surface-tension liquid to a front surface of a substrate so as to form a liquid film of the low-surface-tension liquid. The controller is programmed to control the substrate rotating unit and the inert gas supply unit so that an inert gas is supplied toward the rotational center position while rotating the substrate, thereby forming an opening spreading from the rotational center position to be formed in the liquid film, and enlarging the opening in a direction away from the rotational center position, and to control the landing-position changing unit to change the landing position of the low-surface-tension liquid to at least two positions except the rotational center position in accordance with enlargement of the opening so that the landing position is placed outside the peripheral edge of the opening.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroaki Takahashi, Kazunori Fujikawa, Tomonori Kojimaru, Tomomasa Ishida, Ayumi Higuchi, Naozumi Fujiwara, Kana Komori, Shota Iwahata
  • Publication number: 20200001333
    Abstract: The present substrate processing method includes a pre-drying processing liquid supplying step of supplying, to a front surface of a substrate, a pre-drying processing liquid, having a freezing point lower than a freezing point of the solidified body forming substance, a solidified body forming step of solidifying a portion of the pre-drying processing liquid on the front surface of the substrate to form the solidified body, containing the solidified body forming substance, inside the pre-drying processing liquid, a liquid removing step of removing the pre-drying processing liquid on the front surface of the substrate while letting the solidified body remain on the front surface of the substrate, and a solid removing step of removing the solidified body, remaining on the front surface of the substrate, from the front surface of the substrate by making the solidified body change to a gas.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 28, 2019
    Publication date: January 2, 2020
    Inventors: Masayuki OTSUJI, Hiroaki TAKAHASHI, Masahiko KATO, Naozumi FUJIWARA, Yu YAMAGUCHI, Yuta SASAKI
  • Publication number: 20190390320
    Abstract: A pre-drying processing liquid containing a sublimable substance that changes to gas without passing through to a liquid and a solvent in which the sublimable substance dissolves is supplied to a front surface of a substrate on which a pattern has been formed. Thereafter, the solvent is evaporated from the pre-drying processing liquid on the front surface of the substrate to thereby form a solidified body containing the sublimable substance on the front surface of the substrate. Thereafter, the solidified body is sublimated and thereby removed from the front surface of the substrate. A value acquired by multiplying a ratio of the thickness of the solidified body to the height of the pattern by 100 is greater than 76 and less than 219.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 19, 2019
    Publication date: December 26, 2019
    Inventors: Yuta SASAKI, Masayuki OTSUJI, Naozumi FUJIWARA, Masahiko KATO, Yu YAMAGUCHI, Hiroaki TAKAHASHI
  • Publication number: 20180147609
    Abstract: A substrate processing method wherein a solidification liquid, having a solidification point higher than normal temperature, is supplied on a top surface of a substrate and solidified in a normal-temperature atmosphere to form a solidified material of the solidification liquid on the top surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2018
    Publication date: May 31, 2018
    Inventors: Katsuhiko MIYA, Naozumi FUJIWARA
  • Publication number: 20180133748
    Abstract: For a substrate having a diameter of 300 millimeters and a main surface on which a lot of pattern elements standing upright are formed, a processing using a processing liquid is performed on the main surface. After the processing using the processing liquid, a filler solution is applied onto the main surface. In the application process of the filler solution, pure water is supplied onto the main surface which faces upward while the substrate is in a horizontal state, and a liquid film of the pure water which covers the main surface and has a thickness not larger than 5 micrometers is formed by rotating the substrate. Then, the filler solution containing a water-soluble filler is supplied onto a center portion of the main surface while the substrate is rotated at the number of rotation not smaller than 300 times and not larger than 500 times per minute.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 9, 2017
    Publication date: May 17, 2018
    Inventor: Naozumi FUJIWARA
  • Patent number: 9873141
    Abstract: A large number of pattern elements stands upright on an upper surface of a substrate. After the upper surface of the substrate has been processed using a processing liquid, liquid filling processing for filling the upper surface with a filler solution is performed, in which the filler solution having a viscosity of three centipoises or more is applied to a central part of the upper surface. Then, by rotating the substrate at 1000 revolutions per minute or less, the processing solution adhering to the entire upper surface is replaced by the filler solution, and a solution layer of a predetermined thickness is formed. In this way, making the viscosity of the filler solution relatively high and making the centrifugal force acting at the time of rotating the substrate relatively low suppresses deformation of the pattern elements at the time of filling with a filler that uses the filler solution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Naozumi Fujiwara, Naoko Yamaguchi
  • Patent number: 9805938
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus includes a rotating holder for a substrate, a first nozzle used to eject a jet flow, a second nozzle used to discharge a continuous flow, and a nozzle moving unit integrally moving the first and second nozzles. A landing position of the continuous flow is located closer to a rotation center than a landing position of the jet flow is. At least movement paths of the landing positions of the jet flow and the continuous flow or flow directions of the continuous flow and the jet flow are different from each other. The movement paths are made to be different from each other by locating the landing position of the continuous flow downstream of the movement path of the landing position of the jet flow. The flow directions are made to be different from each other by tilting the continuous flow.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 4, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2017
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Naozumi Fujiwara, Toru Edo, Yuji Sugahara, Seiji Ano, Jun Sawashima
  • Publication number: 20170186599
    Abstract: The controller is programmed to cause a low-surface-tension liquid supply unit to supply a liquid film of a low-surface-tension liquid to a front surface of a substrate so as to form a liquid film of the low-surface-tension liquid. The controller is programmed to control the substrate rotating unit and the inert gas supply unit so that an inert gas is supplied toward the rotational center position while rotating the substrate, thereby forming an opening spreading from the rotational center position to be formed in the liquid film, and enlarging the opening in a direction away from the rotational center position, and to control the landing-position changing unit to change the landing position of the low-surface-tension liquid to at least two positions except the rotational center position in accordance with enlargement of the opening so that the landing position is placed outside the peripheral edge of the opening.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2016
    Publication date: June 29, 2017
    Inventors: Hiroaki TAKAHASHI, Kazunori FUJIKAWA, Tomonori KOJIMARU, Tomomasa ISHIDA, Ayumi HIGUCHI, Naozumi FUJIWARA, Kana KOMORI, Shota IWAHATA
  • Publication number: 20160336169
    Abstract: A large number of pattern elements stands upright on an upper surface of a substrate. After the upper surface of the substrate has been processed using a processing liquid, liquid filling processing for filling the upper surface with a filler solution is performed, in which the filler solution having a viscosity of three centipoises or more is applied to a central part of the upper surface. Then, by rotating the substrate at 1000 revolutions per minute or less, the processing solution adhering to the entire upper surface is replaced by the filler solution, and a solution layer of a predetermined thickness is formed. In this way, making the viscosity of the filler solution relatively high and making the centrifugal force acting at the time of rotating the substrate relatively low suppresses deformation of the pattern elements at the time of filling with a filler that uses the filler solution.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2016
    Publication date: November 17, 2016
    Inventors: Naozumi FUJIWARA, Naoko YAMAGUCHI
  • Patent number: 9460944
    Abstract: A substrate treating apparatus includes a rotating and holding unit that rotates a substrate, a first supply source that supplies first pure water having a first temperature, a second supply source that supplies second pure water having a second temperature higher than the first temperature, a treatment solution supply unit that supplies a treatment solution to a central section of an upper surface of the substrate, a first supply unit that supplies a first liquid containing the first pure water to a central section of a lower surface of the substrate, a second supply unit that supplies a second liquid containing the second pure water to a peripheral section and an intermediate section of the lower surface, and a heat amount control unit that independently controls an amount of heat to be supplied by the first supply unit and an amount of heat to be supplied by the second supply unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Naozumi Fujiwara, Toru Edo, Jun Sawashima, Tatsumi Shimomura
  • Publication number: 20160086810
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus includes a rotating holder for a substrate, a first nozzle used to eject a jet flow, a second nozzle used to discharge a continuous flow, and a nozzle moving unit integrally moving the first and second nozzles. A landing position of the continuous flow is located closer to a rotation center than a landing position of the jet flow is. At least movement paths of the landing positions of the jet flow and the continuous flow or flow directions of the continuous flow and the jet flow are different from each other. The movement paths are made to be different from each other by locating the landing position of the continuous flow downstream of the movement path of the landing position of the jet flow. The flow directions are made to be different from each other by tilting the continuous flow.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2015
    Publication date: March 24, 2016
    Inventors: Naozumi FUJIWARA, Toru EDO, Yuji SUGAHARA, Seiji ANO, Jun SAWASHIMA
  • Publication number: 20160059274
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus, having a solidified material forming unit that discharges a solidification liquid in a liquid state from a nozzle and supplies the discharged solidification liquid to a substrate so as to form a solidified material of the solidification liquid on the substrate, and a remover that removes the solidified material of the solidification liquid on the substrate, wherein the solidified material forming unit supplies the solidification liquid having a solidification point higher than normal temperature to a top surface of the substrate, and the solidification liquid is solidified by an external stimulus received in either a process of landing on the substrate after being discharged from the nozzle, or a process of being left on the substrate as it is.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2015
    Publication date: March 3, 2016
    Inventors: Katsuhiko MIYA, Naozumi FUJIWARA
  • Publication number: 20160005630
    Abstract: A substrate treating apparatus includes a rotating and holding unit that rotates a substrate, a first supply source that supplies first pure water having a first temperature, a second supply source that supplies second pure water having a second temperature higher than the first temperature, a treatment solution supply unit that supplies a treatment solution to a central section of an upper surface of the substrate, a first supply unit that supplies a first liquid containing the first pure water to a central section of a lower surface of the substrate, a second supply unit that supplies a second liquid containing the second pure water to a peripheral section and an intermediate section of the lower surface, and a heat amount control unit that independently controls an amount of heat to be supplied by the first supply unit and an amount of heat to be supplied by the second supply unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 23, 2015
    Publication date: January 7, 2016
    Inventors: Naozumi FUJIWARA, Toru EDO, Jun SAWASHIMA, Tatsumi SHIMOMURA
  • Patent number: 9214331
    Abstract: DIW in an excessively cooled state is supplied as a solidification liquid to a substrate W, and a solidified material of the DIW is formed by a landing impact on the substrate W. This makes the use of a gaseous refrigerant necessary to form a solidified material unnecessary, eliminates the need for a facility to generate the gaseous refrigerant, shortens a processing time and further enables running cost and the like to be suppressed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Katsuhiko Miya, Naozumi Fujiwara