Patents by Inventor Noriyuki KIKUMOTO

Noriyuki KIKUMOTO 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: 11850623
    Abstract: Disclosed are a substrate treating apparatus and a substrate transporting method. The substrate treating apparatus includes a first transport mechanism. The first transport mechanism includes a hand. A hand includes a base, a suction portion, a first receiver, a second receiver, and a receiver driving unit. The suction portion is attached to the base. The suction portion flows gas along a top face of a substrate, and sucks the substrate upward without contacting the substrate. The first receiver and the second receiver are supported on the base. The first receiver and the second receiver are disposed below the substrate sucked by the suction portion. The first receiver and the second receiver can receive a back face of the substrate. The receiver driving unit moves the second receiver with respect to the base. The receiver driving unit causes the second receiver to access the first receiver and to move away from the first receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Inventors: Yuichi Takayama, Kazuhiko Nakazawa, Hiromichi Kaba, Toshihito Morioka, Takuya Sato, Noriyuki Kikumoto
  • Patent number: 11823929
    Abstract: Disclosed is a substrate treating apparatus for performing a cleaning treatment on substrates. The apparatus includes an indexer block with an indexer robot, a treating block including a cleaning unit, and a path block disposed between the indexer block and the treating block. The indexer robot includes a guide rail, a base, an articulated arm, and a hand. The guide rail is positioned so as not to overlap a mount position of a substrate in the path block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2023
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Inventors: Yuzo Uchida, Noriyuki Kikumoto, Hiroyuki Kawahara
  • Patent number: 11823921
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus includes a suctioning unit for suctioning a processing liquid existing inside a processing liquid pipe that communicates with a discharge port, and a controller. In the suctioning step, the controller executes a suctioning step of suctioning the processing liquid existing inside the processing liquid pipe by the suctioning unit. The controller selectively executes a first suctioning step of retracting a leading end surface of the processing liquid and disposing the leading end surface of the processing liquid after suctioning in a preliminarily set standby position inside the processing liquid pipe, and a second suctioning step of retracting the leading end surface of the processing liquid further back than the standby position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2023
    Inventors: Michinori Iwao, Shuichi Yasuda, Kazuhiro Fujita, Noriyuki Kikumoto, Takahiro Yamaguchi
  • Publication number: 20230187245
    Abstract: Disclosed is a substrate treating apparatus for performing a cleaning treatment on substrates. The apparatus includes an indexer block with an indexer robot, a treating block including a cleaning unit, and a path block disposed between the indexer block and the treating block. The indexer robot includes a guide rail, a base, an articulated arm, and a hand. The guide rail is positioned so as not to overlap a mount position of a substrate in the path block.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 31, 2023
    Publication date: June 15, 2023
    Inventors: Yuzo UCHIDA, Noriyuki KIKUMOTO, Hiroyuki KAWAHARA
  • Patent number: 11594436
    Abstract: Disclosed is a substrate treating apparatus for performing a cleaning treatment on substrates. The apparatus includes an indexer block with an indexer robot, a treating block including a front face cleaning unit and a back face cleaning unit as treating units, and a reversing path block including a plurality of shelves on which substrates are placed, and having a reversing function. The indexer robot includes a guide rail, a base, an articulated arm, and a hand. The guide rail is positioned so as not to overlap a mount position of a substrate in the reversing path block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 28, 2023
    Inventors: Yuzo Uchida, Noriyuki Kikumoto, Hiroyuki Kawahara
  • Patent number: 11581208
    Abstract: Disclosed is a substrate treating apparatus that performs a cleaning treatment on substrates. A treating block includes a plurality of treating units in an upper and lower stages, respectively. The treating block includes a front face cleaning unit and a back face cleaning unit, each being at least one in number, in the upper stage. The treating block includes at least one tower unit including the front face cleaning unit and the back face cleaning unit, each being at least one in number, in the lower stage. Moreover, a transportation block is provided that includes a center robot in each of the upper and lower stages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Inventors: Noriyuki Kikumoto, Yuzo Uchida, Hiroyuki Kawahara
  • Patent number: 11410865
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus includes a base portion 1541 that is disposed in a manner of being adjacent to a chamber; a hand 155 that holds a substrate S; an arm 1542 that is attached to the base portion 1541, supports the hand, and moves the hand forward and rearward by horizontally moving the hand with respect to the base portion; and a cover portion 156 that accommodates the hand in an internal space. The cover portion has a cover main body 1561 forming the internal space and an extending member 1562 having a hollow structure which penetrates the cover portion in a horizontal direction and of which one end serves as an opening 1562a and being engaged with the cover main body in a state of being movable in the horizontal direction while the opening communicates with the internal space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 9, 2022
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki Kawahara, Koji Hashimoto, Noriyuki Kikumoto, Noritake Sumi
  • Publication number: 20220165599
    Abstract: In a substrate processing apparatus in which a substrate is transported into multiple chambers by using multiple transport mechanisms, while a first transport unit is responsible for the transport of the substrate into the first chamber and the transport of the substrate out from the second chamber, the second transport unit is responsible for the transfer of the substrate from the first chamber to the second chamber. With respect to a transfer zone which is a transport route of the substrate from the first chamber to the second chamber, the first transport unit is arranged above and the second transport unit is arranged below. Since entry into the transfer zone is exclusively allowed, the two transport units can operate individually while avoiding mutual interference.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2020
    Publication date: May 26, 2022
    Inventors: Hiroyuki KAWAHARA, Koji HASHIMOTO, Noriyuki KIKUMOTO, Noritake SUMI
  • Patent number: 11342201
    Abstract: In a substrate processing apparatus, a transport robot which transports a substrate between an indexer part and a substrate processing part is installed in a substrate transport part. The transport fan filter unit is provided in an upper part of the substrate transport part. An exhaust port is provided in the substrate transport part. The circulation piping allows the exhaust port of the substrate transport part and the transport fan filter unit to communicate with each other. The exhaust pipe is connected to the circulation piping. The inert gas supply part supplies an inert gas to the circulation piping. The circulation fan filter unit is disposed downstream of a connecting portion of the circulation piping with the exhaust pipe to be parallel to a flow path of the circulation piping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tetsuo Ito, Noriyuki Kikumoto, Kazuki Inoue, Kunio Yamada
  • Patent number: 11315820
    Abstract: A substrate processing device is provided. A chamber has a side wall part and a top wall part and contains a substrate holding part. A first gas supply part is disposed in the top wall part and supplies a first gas toward a side on which the substrate holding part is positioned. A second gas supply part is contained in the chamber and supplies a second gas to an inside of the chamber. A control unit controls the first and second gas supply part. The second gas is a gas different from oxygen and an allotrope of oxygen. The second gas supply part has an air feeding port part which is positioned on an upward side of a holding position of a substrate by the substrate holding part in a vertical direction and is positioned on an outward side of the substrate holding part in a horizontal direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2022
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Tetsuo Ito, Noriyuki Kikumoto, Kazuki Inoue, Kunio Yamada
  • Patent number: 11081376
    Abstract: A first processing module includes a first specified processing unit and a first delivery part. A substrate supply part is on a first direction side of the first processing module. A transfer module is on a second direction side on the opposite of the first processing module from the first direction. The transfer module includes a frame, a first floor, a second floor, and a gateway. The frame defines a placement space in which a first transfer apparatus of the transfer module is placed. A first transfer apparatus is installed on the first floor. The second floor is on a third direction side, which is a horizontal direction orthogonal to the first direction, with respect to the first floor inside the placement space. The gateway is provided on the third direction side with respect to the second floor and communicates the placement space to the outside of the frame.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2021
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yuichi Takayama, Koji Hashimoto, Noriyuki Kikumoto
  • Publication number: 20210098270
    Abstract: Disclosed is a substrate treating apparatus for performing a cleaning treatment on substrates. The apparatus includes an indexer block with an indexer robot, a treating block including a front face cleaning unit and a back face cleaning unit as treating units, and a reversing path block including a plurality of shelves on which substrates are placed, and having a reversing function. The indexer robot includes a guide rail, a base, an articulated arm, and a hand. The guide rail is positioned so as not to overlap a mount position of a substrate in the reversing path block.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 16, 2020
    Publication date: April 1, 2021
    Inventors: Yuzo UCHIDA, Noriyuki KIKUMOTO, Hiroyuki KAWAHARA
  • Publication number: 20210086222
    Abstract: Disclosed are a substrate treating apparatus and a substrate transporting method. The substrate treating apparatus includes a first transport mechanism. The first transport mechanism includes a hand. A hand includes a base, a suction portion, a first receiver, a second receiver, and a receiver driving unit. The suction portion is attached to the base. The suction portion flows gas along a top face of a substrate, and sucks the substrate upward without contacting the substrate. The first receiver and the second receiver are supported on the base. The first receiver and the second receiver are disposed below the substrate sucked by the suction portion. The first receiver and the second receiver can receive a back face of the substrate. The receiver driving unit moves the second receiver with respect to the base. The receiver driving unit causes the second receiver to access the first receiver and to move away from the first receiver.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 8, 2020
    Publication date: March 25, 2021
    Inventors: Yuichi TAKAYAMA, Kazuhiko NAKAZAWA, Hiromichi KABA, Toshihito MORIOKA, Takuya SATO, Noriyuki KIKUMOTO
  • Publication number: 20210082720
    Abstract: Disclosed is a substrate treating apparatus that performs a cleaning treatment on substrates. A treating block includes a plurality of treating units in an upper and lower stages, respectively. The treating block includes a front face cleaning unit and a back face cleaning unit, each being at least one in number, in the upper stage. The treating block includes at least one tower unit including the front face cleaning unit and the back face cleaning unit, each being at least one in number, in the lower stage. Moreover, a transportation block is provided that includes a center robot in each of the upper and lower stages.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2020
    Publication date: March 18, 2021
    Inventors: Noriyuki KIKUMOTO, Yuzo UCHIDA, Hiroyuki KAWAHARA
  • Patent number: 10933448
    Abstract: A substrate treatment apparatus is provided with a plurality of substrate treatment parts and a liquid treatment system. The substrate treatment part has a substrate retaining part, which retains a substrate, and a discharge nozzle, which discharges a treatment liquid to the substrate retained by the substrate retaining part. The liquid treatment system has: a storage tank that stores in the treatment liquid; a supply piping part that is connected to the storage tank and forms a supply passage through which the treatment liquid to be supplied to the discharge nozzle passes; a return piping part that is connected to the storage tank and forms a return passage that returns the treatment liquid passed through the supply piping part to the storage tank; and a gas supply part that supplies a nitrogen gas different from oxygen dissolved in the treatment liquid into the return passage of the return piping part.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 2, 2021
    Assignee: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shuichi Yasuda, Michinori Iwao, Noriyuki Kikumoto, Mitsutoshi Sasaki
  • Patent number: 10921057
    Abstract: A substrate drying method includes a sublimation-agent-liquid-film placing step of placing a liquid film of a liquid sublimation agent on the front surface of the substrate, a high vapor-pressure liquid supply step of supplying a high vapor-pressure liquid that has vapor pressure higher than the sublimation agent and that does not include water to a rear surface that is a surface on a side opposite to the front surface in the substrate, a vaporizing/cooling step of, after the liquid film of the sublimation agent is placed on the front surface of the substrate, stopping supplying the high vapor-pressure liquid, and, as a result, losing vaporization heat in response to vaporization of the high vapor-pressure liquid, and, as a result, cooling the sublimation agent, and, as a result, solidifying the liquid film of the sublimation agent and a sublimating step of sublimating a sublimation-agent film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Inventors: Manabu Okutani, Noriyuki Kikumoto, Naohiko Yoshihara, Hiroshi Abe
  • Patent number: 10861717
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus includes a processing liquid supply nozzle to supply a processing liquid to a substrate, a storage portion that stores the processing liquid supplied, a liquid-sending pipe that sends the processing liquid stored in the storage portion to the nozzle, a flow pipe that allows a processing liquid to flow therethrough, an oxygen concentration meter interposed in the flow pipe, a hypoxic fluid supply pipe that is in communication with the flow pipe and that sends a hypoxic fluid to the flow pipe, and a flow rate changing valve interposed in the hypoxic fluid supply pipe. A flow-rate-changing controller controls the flow rate changing valve so that the hypoxic fluid is supplied to the flow pipe until an inside of the flow pipe is filled with the hypoxic fluid when the processing liquid inside the flow pipe is drained.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Inventors: Michinori Iwao, Noriyuki Kikumoto, Shuichi Yasuda
  • Publication number: 20200365437
    Abstract: A substrate processing apparatus includes a base portion 1541 that is disposed in a manner of being adjacent to a chamber; a hand 155 that holds a substrate S; an arm 1542 that is attached to the base portion 1541, supports the hand, and moves the hand forward and rearward by horizontally moving the hand with respect to the base portion; and a cover portion 156 that accommodates the hand in an internal space. The cover portion has a cover main body 1561 forming the internal space and an extending member 1562 having a hollow structure which penetrates the cover portion in a horizontal direction and of which one end serves as an opening 1562a and being engaged with the cover main body in a state of being movable in the horizontal direction while the opening communicates with the internal space.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 13, 2020
    Publication date: November 19, 2020
    Applicant: SCREEN Holdings Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki KAWAHARA, Koji HASHIMOTO, Noriyuki KIKUMOTO, Noritake SUMI
  • Publication number: 20200312697
    Abstract: A substrate processing device is provided. A chamber has a side wall part and a top wall part and contains a substrate holding part. A first gas supply part is disposed in the top wall part and supplies a first gas toward a side on which the substrate holding part is positioned. A second gas supply part is contained in the chamber and supplies a second gas to an inside of the chamber. A control unit controls the first and second gas supply part. The second gas is a gas different from oxygen and an allotrope of oxygen. The second gas supply part has an air feeding port part which is positioned on an upward side of a holding position of a substrate by the substrate holding part in a vertical direction and is positioned on an outward side of the substrate holding part in a horizontal direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Applicant: SCREEN HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuo ITO, Noriyuki KIKUMOTO, Kazuki INOUE, Kunio YAMADA
  • Publication number: 20200312679
    Abstract: In a substrate processing apparatus, a transport robot which transports a substrate between an indexer part and a substrate processing part is installed in a substrate transport part. The transport fan filter unit is provided in an upper part of the substrate transport part. An exhaust port is provided in the substrate transport part. The circulation piping allows the exhaust port of the substrate transport part and the transport fan filter unit to communicate with each other. The exhaust pipe is connected to the circulation piping. The inert gas supply part supplies an inert gas to the circulation piping. The circulation fan filter unit is disposed downstream of a connecting portion of the circulation piping with the exhaust pipe to be parallel to a flow path of the circulation piping.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 27, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Applicant: SCREEN HOLDINGS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Tetsuo ITO, Noriyuki KIKUMOTO, Kazuki INOUE, Kunio YAMADA