Patents by Inventor Naruaki Iida
Naruaki Iida 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).
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Publication number: 20080100852Abstract: An optical sensor for detecting the housing state such as the thickness of a substrate in the present invention is provided at supporting arms. The supporting arms are attached to a supporting shaft. The supporting arms are in a vertical state in a state before detection of the substrate, but when detecting, the supporting shaft rotates to bring the supporting arms into a horizontal state so that the optical sensor enters a substrate housing body and is set at a predetermined detection position. Accordingly, a space for moving the optical sensor in the horizontal direction becomes unnecessary to reduce the space required for the detecting operation and the like, making it possible to reduce the size of a substrate processing apparatus in which the detecting apparatus is incorporated.Type: ApplicationFiled: October 12, 2007Publication date: May 1, 2008Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITEDInventor: Naruaki IIDA
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Publication number: 20070160454Abstract: A substrate carrying device capable of causing a substrate to float by a gas can be manufactured at a low manufacturing cost and can suppress the consumption of a gas for carrying the substrate.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 27, 2006Publication date: July 12, 2007Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITEDInventor: Naruaki Iida
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Publication number: 20070127916Abstract: On top of respective areas divided by partition plates, that is, a cassette station, a processing station, and an interface section in a coating and developing processing system, gas supply sections for supplying an inert gas into the respective areas are provided. Exhaust pipes for exhausting atmospheres in the respective areas are provided at the bottom of the respective areas. The atmospheres in the respective areas are maintained in a clean condition by supplying the inert gas not containing impurities such as oxygen and fine particles from the respective gas supply sections into the respective areas and exhausting the atmospheres in the respective areas from the exhaust pipes.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 9, 2007Publication date: June 7, 2007Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITEDInventors: Junichi Kitano, Yuji Matsuyama, Takahiro Kitano, Takayuki Katano, Hidefumi Matsui, Yo Suzuki, Masami Yamashita, Toru Aoyama, Hiroyuki Iwaki, Satoru Shimura, Masatoshi Deguchi, Kousuke Yoshihara, Naruaki Iida
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Publication number: 20070128356Abstract: On top of respective areas divided by partition plates, that is, a cassette station, a processing station, and an interface section in a coating and developing processing system, gas supply sections for supplying an inert gas into the respective areas are provided. Exhaust pipes for exhausting atmospheres in the respective areas are provided at the bottom of the respective areas. The atmospheres in the respective areas are maintained in a clean condition by supplying the inert gas not containing impurities such as oxygen and fine particles from the respective gas supply sections into the respective areas and exhausting the atmospheres in the respective areas from the exhaust pipes.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 9, 2007Publication date: June 7, 2007Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITEDInventors: Yuji Matsuyama, Takahiro Kitano, Masatoshi Deguchi, Kousuke Yoshihara, Naruaki Iida
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Patent number: 7208066Abstract: On top of respective areas divided by partition plates, that is, a cassette station, a processing station, and an interface section in a coating and developing processing system, gas supply sections for supplying an inert gas into the respective areas are provided. Exhaust pipes for exhausting atmospheres in the respective areas are provided at the bottom of the respective areas. The atmospheres in the respective areas are maintained in a clean condition by supplying the inert gas not containing impurities such as oxygen and fine particles from the respective gas supply sections into the respective areas and exhausting the atmospheres in the respective areas from the exhaust pipes.Type: GrantFiled: August 28, 2003Date of Patent: April 24, 2007Assignee: Tokyo Electron LimitedInventors: Junichi Kitano, Yuji Matsuyama, Takahiro Kitano, Takayuki Katano, Hidefumi Matsui, Yo Suzuki, Masami Yamashita, Toru Aoyama, Hiroyuki Iwaki, Satoru Shimura, Masatoshi Deguchi, Kousuke Yoshihara, Naruaki Iida
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Patent number: 6915183Abstract: The present invention has a first optical detection mark having a predetermined positional coordinate in a lateral direction with respect to a carrier opening of a processing unit through which a carrier apparatus enters and exits, a second optical detection mark having a predetermined positional coordinate in a vertical direction with respect to the carrier opening, and an optical sensor provided on the substrate carrier apparatus for detecting the first or second optical detection mark. The substrate carrier apparatus is rotated by a predetermined angle from a position of the substrate carrier apparatus where the optical sensor detects the first optical detection mark, and the substrate carrier apparatus is moved in the vertical direction by a predetermined amount of movement from a position of the substrate carrier apparatus where the optical sensor detects the second optical detection mark.Type: GrantFiled: May 27, 2004Date of Patent: July 5, 2005Assignee: Tokyo Electron LimitedInventors: Naruaki Iida, Kazuhiko Ito, Michio Kinoshita
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Publication number: 20040253091Abstract: The present invention has a first optical detection mark having a predetermined positional coordinate in a lateral direction with respect to a carrier opening of a processing unit through which a carrier apparatus enters and exits, a second optical detection mark having a predetermined positional coordinate in a vertical direction with respect to the carrier opening, and an optical sensor provided on the substrate carrier apparatus for detecting the first or second optical detection mark. The substrate carrier apparatus is rotated by a predetermined angle from a position of the substrate carrier apparatus where the optical sensor detects the first optical detection mark, and the substrate carrier apparatus is moved in the vertical direction by a predetermined amount of movement from a position of the substrate carrier apparatus where the optical sensor detects the second optical detection mark.Type: ApplicationFiled: May 27, 2004Publication date: December 16, 2004Inventors: Naruaki Iida, Kazuhiko Ito, Michio Kinoshita
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Patent number: 6709545Abstract: In order to alleviate the affect of particles generated during operation of an elevation mechanism of a substrate conveyer means on the substrate that is transported in a substrate processing apparatus, a partition wall having a slit-like hole is provided in a casing that forms the outer housing of the elevation mechanism, whereby the casing is divided into a first chamber and a second chamber. A conveyer main unit holding a wafer is fixed to a rod-like support member. The support member has its end supported by a guide shaft. The guide shaft and a driving mechanism to move the support member upwards and downwards are provided in the first chamber. The support member descends and ascends along the guide shaft. A fan is disposed in the second chamber. A discharge outlet is formed at the bottom plane of the second chamber.Type: GrantFiled: January 4, 2002Date of Patent: March 23, 2004Assignee: Tokyo Electron LimitedInventor: Naruaki Iida
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Publication number: 20040050321Abstract: On top of respective areas divided by partition plates, that is, a cassette station, a processing station, and an interface section in a coating and developing processing system, gas supply sections for supplying an inert gas into the respective areas are provided. Exhaust pipes for exhausting atmospheres in the respective areas are provided at the bottom of the respective areas. The atmospheres in the respective areas are maintained in a clean condition by supplying the inert gas not containing impurities such as oxygen and fine particles from the respective gas supply sections into the respective areas and exhausting the atmospheres in the respective areas from the exhaust pipes.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 28, 2003Publication date: March 18, 2004Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITEDInventors: Junichi Kitano, Yuji Matsuyama, Takahiro Kitano, Takayuki Katano, Hidefumi Matsui, Yo Suzuki, Masami Yamashita, Toru Aoyama, Hiroyuki Iwaki, Satoru Shimura, Masatoshi Deguchi, Kousuke Yoshihara, Naruaki Iida
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Patent number: 6672779Abstract: Thermal processing unit sections each with ten tiers and coating processing unit sections each with five tiers are disposed around a first main wafer transfer section and a second main wafer transfer section, and in the thermal processing unit section, the influence of the time required for substrate temperature regulation processing on a drop in throughput can be reduced greatly by transferring the wafer W while the temperature of the wafer W is being regulated by a temperature regulation and transfer device.Type: GrantFiled: September 17, 2002Date of Patent: January 6, 2004Assignee: Tokyo Electron LimitedInventors: Issei Ueda, Shinichi Hayashi, Naruaki Iida, Yuji Matsuyama, Yoichi Deguchi
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Patent number: 6643564Abstract: A retreat permission position of a carrier arm when the carrier arm is moved back to retreat outside a mounting table after the carrier arm carries a substrate to a position above the mounting table while holding a peripheral portion of the substrate, to thereby place the substrate on a plurality of supporting pins vertically movable through the mounting table. A disk substantially equal in size to the substrate, having insertion holes formed to allow the supporting pins to be inserted therethrough and being supportable by the carrier arm, and a sensor to detect whether or not the supporting pin inserted through the insertion hole of this disk exists.Type: GrantFiled: January 17, 2003Date of Patent: November 4, 2003Assignee: Tokyo Electron LimitedInventors: Yukinori Kataoka, Naruaki Iida, Seiji Kozawa
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Publication number: 20030139852Abstract: The present invention teaches a retreat permission position of a carrier arm when the carrier arm is moved back to retreat outside a mounting table after the carrier arm carries a substrate to a position above the mounting table while holding a peripheral portion of the substrate, to thereby place the substrate on a plurality of supporting pins vertically movable through the mounting table. The present invention has a disk substantially equal in size to the substrate, having insertion holes formed to allow the supporting pins to be inserted therethrough and being supportable by the carrier arm, and a sensor capable of detecting whether or not the supporting pin inserted through the insertion hole of this disk exists.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 17, 2003Publication date: July 24, 2003Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITEDInventors: Yukinori Kataoka, Naruaki Iida, Seiji Kozawa
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Publication number: 20030012575Abstract: Thermal processing unit sections each with ten tiers and coating processing unit sections each with five tiers are disposed around a first main wafer transfer section and a second main wafer transfer section, and in the thermal processing unit section, the influence of the time required for substrate temperature regulation processing on a drop in throughput can be reduced greatly by transferring the wafer W while the temperature of the wafer W is being regulated by a temperature regulation and transfer device.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 17, 2002Publication date: January 16, 2003Inventors: Issei Ueda, Shinichi Hayashi, Naruaki Iida, Yuji Matsuyama, Yoichi Deguchi
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Patent number: 6471422Abstract: Thermal processing unit sections each with ten tiers and coating processing unit sections each with five tiers are disposed around a first main wafer transfer section and a second main wafer transfer section, and in the thermal processing unit section, the influence of the time required for substrate temperature regulation processing on a drop in throughput can be reduced greatly by transferring the wafer W while the temperature of the wafer W is being regulated by a temperature regulation and transfer device.Type: GrantFiled: April 16, 2002Date of Patent: October 29, 2002Assignee: Tokyo Electron LimitedInventors: Issei Ueda, Shinichi Hayashi, Naruaki Iida, Yuji Matsuyama, Yoichi Deguchi
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Publication number: 20020118973Abstract: Thermal processing unit sections each with ten tiers and coating processing unit sections each with five tiers are disposed around a first main wafer transfer section and a second main wafer transfer section, and in the thermal processing unit section, the influence of the time required for substrate temperature regulation processing on a drop in throughput can be reduced greatly by transferring the wafer W while the temperature of the wafer W is being regulated by a temperature regulation and transfer device.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 16, 2002Publication date: August 29, 2002Inventors: Issei Ueda, Shinichi Hayashi, Naruaki Iida, Yuji Matsuyama, Yoichi Deguchi
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Publication number: 20020092615Abstract: In order to alleviate the affect of particles generated during operation of an elevation mechanism of a substrate conveyer means on the substrate that is transported in a substrate processing apparatus, a partition wall having a slit-like hole is provided in a casing that forms the outer housing of the elevation mechanism, whereby the casing is divided into a first chamber and a second chamber. A conveyer main unit holding a wafer is fixed to a rod-like support member. The support member has its end supported by a guide shaft. The guide shaft and a driving mechanism to move the support member upwards and downwards are provided in the first chamber. The support member descends and ascends along the guide shaft. A fan is disposed in the second chamber. A discharge outlet is formed at the bottom plane of the second chamber.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 4, 2002Publication date: July 18, 2002Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITEDInventor: Naruaki Iida
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Patent number: 6402401Abstract: Thermal processing unit sections each with ten tiers and coating processing unit sections each with five tiers are disposed around a first main wafer transfer section and a second main wafer transfer section, and in the thermal processing unit section, the influence of the time required for substrate temperature regulation processing on a drop in throughput can be reduced greatly by transferring the wafer W while the temperature of the wafer W is being regulated by a temperature regulation and transfer device.Type: GrantFiled: October 16, 2000Date of Patent: June 11, 2002Assignee: Tokyo Electron LimitedInventors: Issei Ueda, Shinichi Hayashi, Naruaki Iida, Yuji Matsuyama, Yoichi Deguchi
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Patent number: 6332751Abstract: In centering a transfer device so that tweezers of the transfer device transfer a substrate to a predetermined delivery position on a spin chuck when the substrate is delivered to a coating unit by means of the transfer device, the substrate is transferred onto the spin chuck in the coating unit by means of the tweezers, a positional deviation amount of the substrate with respect to the delivery position on the chuck is detected by a detecting device, a positional deviation amount of the tweezers is computed based on this detection value, and a position at which the tweezers deliver the substrate is corrected based on the positional deviation amount of the tweezers. Thus, centering of the substrate transfer device can be performed automatically in a short time.Type: GrantFiled: March 30, 2000Date of Patent: December 25, 2001Assignee: Tokyo Electron LimitedInventors: Seiji Kozawa, Naruaki Iida, Jun Ookura
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Publication number: 20010013161Abstract: On top of respective areas divided by partition plates, that is, a cassette station, a processing station, and an interface section in a coating and developing processing system, gas supply sections for supplying an inert gas into the respective areas are provided. Exhaust pipes for exhausting atmospheres in the respective areas are provided at the bottom of the respective areas. The atmospheres in the respective areas are maintained in a clean condition by supplying the inert gas not containing impurities such as oxygen and fine particles from the respective gas supply sections into the respective areas and exhausting the atmospheres in the respective areas from the exhaust pipes.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 31, 2001Publication date: August 16, 2001Applicant: TOKYO ELECTRON LIMITEDInventors: Junichi Kitano, Yuji Matsuyama, Takahiro Kitano, Takayuki Katano, Hidefumi Matsui, Yo Suzuki, Masami Yamashita, Toru Aoyama, Hiroyuki Iwaki, Satoru Shimura, Masatoshi Deguchi, Kousuke Yoshihara, Naruaki Iida
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Patent number: RE37470Abstract: A wafer processing apparatus includes a common path, extending in a Y-axis direction, in which one wafer or a plurality of wafers are conveyed, a plurality of process units stacked on both sides of the common path to constitute multi-stage structures, a main handler moved in the common path in the Y-axis direction and rotated about a Z axis at an angle &thgr; to load/unload the wafer into/from the process units, an arm section arranged to move in the main handler in the Z-axis direction, a plurality of holding arms arranged in the arm section to constitute a multi-stage structure so as to respectively hold the wafers, each holding arm being advanced and retreated on an X-Y plane from the arm section, an optical sensor, arranged in the arm section, for detecting a holding state of the wafer in each of the plurality of holding arms, and a controller for controlling an operation of the main handler, an operation of the arm section, and operations of the plurality of holding arms on the basis of a detection resulType: GrantFiled: September 2, 1999Date of Patent: December 18, 2001Assignee: Tokyo Electron LimitedInventors: Jun Ohkura, Naruaki Iida, Hiroyuki Kudou, Masanori Tateyama, Yasuhiro Sakamoto