Patents by Inventor Osamu Wakabayashi

Osamu Wakabayashi 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: 20200266105
    Abstract: A laser irradiation method of irradiating, with a pulse laser beam, an irradiation object in which an impurity source film is formed on a semiconductor substrate includes: reading fluence per pulse of the pulse laser beam with which a rectangular irradiation region set on the irradiation object is irradiated and the number of irradiation pulses the irradiation region is irradiated, the fluence being equal to or larger than a threshold at or beyond which ablation potentially occurs to the impurity source film when the irradiation object is irradiated with pulses of the pulse laser beam in the irradiation pulse number and smaller than a threshold at or beyond which damage potentially occurs to the surface of the semiconductor substrate; calculating a scanning speed Vdx; and moving the irradiation object at the scanning speed Vdx relative to the irradiation region while irradiating the irradiation region with the pulse laser beam at the repetition frequency f.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2020
    Publication date: August 20, 2020
    Applicants: Gigaphoton Inc., KYUSHU UNIVERSITY, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Hiroshi IKENOUE, Osamu WAKABAYASHI, Hiroaki OIZUMI, Akira SUWA
  • Patent number: 10739686
    Abstract: The present invention allows more freely setting of the polarization direction of illumination light on an illumination surface of an exposure device. A beam transmission system (121) that transmits, to an exposure device (130), a linearly polarized optical beam (L) output from a free electron laser device (10) includes: an optical beam splitting unit (50) configured to split the optical beam (L) into a first optical beam (L1) and a second optical beam (L2); and a first polarization direction rotating unit (51) configured to rotate the linear polarization direction of the first optical beam (L1).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Akiyoshi Suzuki, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Publication number: 20200251359
    Abstract: A laser radiation optical system for laser doping and post-annealing, the laser radiation system including A. a laser apparatus configured to generate pulsed laser light that belongs to an ultraviolet region, B. a stage configured to move a radiation receiving object in an at least one scan direction, the radiation receiving object being an impurity source film containing at least an impurity element as a dopant and formed on a semiconductor substrate, and C. an optical system including a beam homogenizer configured to shape the beam shape of the pulsed laser light into a rectangular shape and generate a beam for laser doping and a beam for post-annealing that differ from each other in terms of a first beam width in the scan direction but have the same second beam width perpendicular to the scan direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 22, 2020
    Publication date: August 6, 2020
    Applicants: Gigaphoton Inc., KYUSHU UNIVERSITY, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Osamu WAKABAYASHI, Hiroshi IKENOUE, Hiroaki OIZUMI
  • Publication number: 20200249452
    Abstract: A laser radiation system according to a viewpoint of the present disclosure includes a first optical system configured to convert a first laser flux into a second laser flux, a multimirror device including mirrors, configured to be capable of controlling the angle of the attitude of each of the mirrors, and configured to divide the second laser flux into laser fluxes and reflect the laser fluxes in directions to produce the divided laser fluxes, a Fourier transform optical system configured to focus the divided laser fluxes, and a control section configured to control the angle of the attitude of each of the mirrors in such a way that the Fourier transform optical system superimposes the laser fluxes, which are divided by the mirrors separate from each other by at least a spatial coherence length of the second laser flux, on one another.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 20, 2020
    Publication date: August 6, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Akiyoshi SUZUKI, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20200244029
    Abstract: A gas laser apparatus may include: a laser chamber connected through a first control valve to a first laser gas supply source that supplies a first laser gas containing a halogen gas; a purification column that removes at least a part of the halogen gas and a halogen compound from at least a part of a gas exhausted from the laser chamber; a booster pump; and a controller that calculates, on a basis of a first amount of a gas supplied from the booster pump to the laser chamber, a second amount of the first laser gas that is to be supplied to the laser chamber and controls the first control valve on a basis of a result of the calculation of the second amount.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 20, 2020
    Publication date: July 30, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Natsushi SUZUKI, Osamu WAKABAYASHI, Hiroaki TSUSHIMA, Masanori YASHIRO
  • Patent number: 10710194
    Abstract: A laser processing system includes a wavelength tunable laser apparatus capable of changing the wavelength of pulsed laser light to be outputted, an optical system irradiating a workpiece with the pulsed laser light, a reference wavelength acquisition section acquiring a reference wavelength corresponding to photon absorption according to the material of the workpiece, a laser processing controller controlling the wavelength tunable laser apparatus to perform preprocessing before final processing performed on the workpiece, changes the wavelength of the pulsed laser light over a predetermined range containing the reference wavelength, and performs wavelength search preprocessing at a plurality of wavelengths, a processed state measurer measuring a processed state on a wavelength basis achieved by the wavelength search preprocessing performed at the plurality of wavelengths, and an optimum wavelength determination section assessing the processed state on a wavelength basis to determine an optimum wavelength us
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Kouji Kakizaki, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Publication number: 20200209755
    Abstract: A mirror for extreme ultraviolet light includes: a substrate (41); a multilayer film (42) provided on the substrate and configured to reflect extreme ultraviolet light; and a capping layer (53) provided on the multilayer film, and the capping layer includes a first layer (61) containing a compound of a metal having lower electronegativity than Ti and a non-metal and having a lower density than TiO2, and a second layer (62) arranged between the first layer and the multilayer film and having a higher density than the first layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 10, 2020
    Publication date: July 2, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Yoshiyuki HONDA, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20200209760
    Abstract: A laser processing method of performing laser processing on a transparent material that is transparent to ultraviolet light by using a laser processing system includes: performing relative positioning of a transfer position of a transfer image and the transparent material in an optical axis direction of a pulse laser beam so that the transfer position is set at a position inside the transparent material at a predetermined depth ?Zsf from a surface of the transparent material in the optical axis direction; and irradiating the transparent material with the pulse laser beam having a pulse width of 1 ns to 100 ns inclusive and a beam diameter of 10 ?m to 150 ?m inclusive at the transfer position.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 9, 2020
    Publication date: July 2, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Koji KAKIZAKI, Masakazu KOBAYASHI, Akira SUWA, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20200209759
    Abstract: A mirror for extreme ultraviolet light includes: a substrate; a multilayer film provided on the substrate and configured to reflect extreme ultraviolet light; and a capping layer provided on the multilayer film, and the capping layer includes a photocatalyst layer containing a photocatalyst, a promotor layer arranged between the photocatalyst layer and the multilayer film and containing a metal for supporting a photocatalytic ability of the photocatalyst contained in the photocatalyst layer, and a barrier layer arranged between the promotor layer and the multilayer film and configured to prevent diffusion of the metal into the multilayer film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 10, 2020
    Publication date: July 2, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Osamu WAKABAYASHI, Yoshiyuki HONDA
  • Publication number: 20200209444
    Abstract: A mirror for extreme ultraviolet light includes: a substrate (41); a multilayer film (42) provided on the substrate and configured to reflect extreme ultraviolet light; and a capping layer (53) provided on the multilayer film, and the capping layer includes a first layer (61) containing an oxide of a metal, and a second layer (62) arranged between the first layer and the multilayer film and containing at least one of a boride of the metal and a nitride of the metal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 10, 2020
    Publication date: July 2, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Osamu WAKABAYASHI, Yoshiyuki HONDA
  • Patent number: 10673200
    Abstract: An excimer laser apparatus may include an optical resonator, a chamber including a pair of discharge electrodes, the chamber being provided in the optical resonator and configured to store laser gas, an electric power source configured to receive a trigger signal and apply a pulsed voltage to the pair of discharge electrodes based on the trigger signal, an energy monitor configured to measure pulse energy of a pulse laser beam outputted from the optical resonator, a unit for adjusting partial pressure of halogen gas configured to perform exhausting a part of the laser gas stored in the chamber and supplying laser gas to the chamber, and a controller configured to acquire measurement results of the pulse energy measured by the energy monitor, detect energy depression based on the measurement results of the pulse energy, and control the unit for adjusting partial pressure of halogen gas based on results of detecting the energy depression to adjust the partial pressure of halogen gas in the chamber.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Yousuke Fujimaki, Hiroaki Tsushima, Hiroyuki Ikeda, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 10666008
    Abstract: A gas supply system may include a first gas supply line, a second gas supply line, a circulation gas pipe, a gas purification unit, a first valve, and a second valve. The first gas supply line may include a first branching point at which the first gas supply line branches into a first branch connected to a first chamber and a second branch connected to a second chamber and the second gas supply line may include a second branching point at which the second gas supply line branches into a third branch connected to the first chamber and a fourth branch connected to the second chamber. A first portion of the first gas supply line upstream from the first branching point and a second portion of the second gas supply line upstream from the second branching point may be constituted by separate pipes from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Natsushi Suzuki, Osamu Wakabayashi, Hiroaki Tsushima, Masanori Yashiro
  • Publication number: 20200150543
    Abstract: An extreme ultraviolet light (EUV) generation system is configured to improve conversion efficiency of energy of a laser system to EUV energy by improving the efficiency of plasma generation. The EUV generation system includes a target generation unit configured to output a target toward a plasma generation region in a chamber. The laser system is configured to generate a first pre-pulse laser beam, a second pre-pulse laser beam, and a main pulse laser beam so that the target is irradiated with the first pre-pulse laser beam, the second pre-pulse laser beam, and the main pulse laser beam in this order. In addition, the EUV generation system includes a controller configured to control the laser system so that a fluence of the second pre-pulse laser beam is equal to or higher than 1 J/cm2 and equal to or lower than a fluence of the main pulse laser beam.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2019
    Publication date: May 14, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Tatsuya YANAGIDA, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Patent number: 10651049
    Abstract: A laser annealing device includes: a CW laser device configured to emit continuous wave laser light caused by continuous oscillation to preheat the amorphous silicon; a pulse laser device configured to emit the pulse laser light toward the preheated amorphous silicon; an optical system configured to guide the continuous wave laser light and the pulse laser light to the amorphous silicon; and a control unit configured to control an irradiation energy density of the continuous wave laser light so as to preheat the amorphous silicon to have a predetermined target temperature less than a melting point thereof, and configured to control at least one of a fluence and a number of pulses of the pulse laser light so as to crystallize the preheated amorphous silicon.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2020
    Assignees: KYUSHU UNIVERSITY, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION, Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Ikenoue, Tomoyuki Ohkubo, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Publication number: 20200136339
    Abstract: A wavelength converter including: A. a crystal holder configured to hold a nonlinear crystal configured to convert a wavelength of a laser beam incident thereon and output the wavelength-converted laser beam; B. a first container configured to accommodate the crystal holder and include a light incident window so provided as to intersect an optical path of the laser beam incident on the nonlinear crystal and a light exiting window so provided as to intersect the optical path of the laser beam having exited out of the nonlinear crystal; C. a second container configured to accommodate the first container; D. a position adjusting mechanism configured to adjust at least a position of the first container; and E. an isolation mechanism configured to spatially isolate the light incident window and the light exiting window from the position adjusting mechanism.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 31, 2019
    Publication date: April 30, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Atsushi FUCHIMUKAI, Osamu WAKABAYASHI, Yoichi SASAKI
  • Publication number: 20200133249
    Abstract: A data analyzer includes a data collector that acquires data on each analysis target parameter of each of a plurality of apparatuses from the apparatus, the plurality of apparatuses including a light source apparatus, an exposure apparatus that exposes a wafer to pulsed light outputted from the light source apparatus, and a wafer inspection apparatus that inspects the exposed wafer, an image generator that visualizes the data on each of the parameters collected by the data collector from the apparatuses that process the wafer for each predetermined area of the wafer to convert the data into an image and generates a plurality of mapped images for each of the parameters of the apparatuses, and a correlation computing section that performs pattern matching on arbitrary ones of the mapped images generated from the wafer to determine a correlation value between arbitrary ones of the parameters of the apparatuses.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2019
    Publication date: April 30, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Yutaka IGARASHI, Yuji MINEGISHI, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Patent number: 10629438
    Abstract: The laser doping apparatus may irradiate a predetermined region of a semiconductor material with a pulse laser beam to perform doping. The laser doping apparatus may include: a solution supplying system configured to supply dopant-containing solution to the predetermined region, and a laser system including at least one laser device configured to output the pulse laser beam to be transmitted by the dopant-containing solution, and a time-domain pulse waveform changing apparatus configured to control a time-domain pulse waveform of the pulse laser beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignees: Kyushu University, Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Tomoyuki Ohkubo, Hiroshi Ikenoue, Akihiro Ikeda, Tanemasa Asano, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 10630042
    Abstract: An extreme ultraviolet light generation system used with a laser apparatus may be provided, and the extreme ultraviolet light generation system may include: a chamber including at least one window for at least one laser beam and a target supply unit for supplying a target material into the chamber; and at least one polarization control unit, provided on a laser beam path, for controlling a polarization state of the at least one laser beam.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Tatsuya Yanagida, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 10629414
    Abstract: A target supply device may be provided with a tank configured to contain a metal as a target material, a nozzle having a nozzle hole through which the target material is output from the tank, a filter disposed in a communication portion for conducting the target material from the tank to the nozzle hole, a temperature adjuster configured to change the temperature of the target material in the tank, and a controller controlling the temperature adjuster to change the temperature of the target material in the tank such that oxygen in the target material is precipitated as metal oxide.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2020
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Fumio Iwamoto, Yutaka Shiraishi, Tsukasa Hori, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Publication number: 20200112137
    Abstract: A laser system includes: A. a solid-state laser apparatus configured to output a pulse laser beam having light intensity distribution in a Gaussian shape that is rotationally symmetric about an optical path axis; B. an amplifier including a pair of discharge electrodes and configured to amplify the pulse laser beam in a discharge space between the pair of discharge electrodes; and C. a conversion optical system configured to convert the light intensity distribution of the pulse laser beam output from the amplifier into a top hat shape in each of a discharge direction of the pair of discharge electrodes and a direction orthogonal to the discharge direction.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2019
    Publication date: April 9, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Masaki ARAKAWA, Osamu WAKABAYASHI