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).

  • Patent number: 10615565
    Abstract: The line narrowed laser apparatus configured to perform a plurality of burst oscillations including a first burst oscillation and a second burst oscillation next to the first burst oscillation to output a pulse laser beam. The line narrowed laser apparatus comprises a laser resonator, a chamber provided in the laser resonator, a pair of electrodes provided in the chamber, an electric power source configured to apply pulsed voltage to the pair of electrodes, a wavelength selecting element provided in the laser resonator, a spectral width varying unit provided in the laser resonator, and a controller. The controller is configured to measure a duty in a predetermined period before starting the second burst oscillation and a length of a suspension period from a time of ending the first burst oscillation to a time of starting the second burst oscillation, and perform a first control of the spectral width varying unit based on the duty and the length of the suspension period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Furusato, Keisuke Ishida, Takeshi Ohta, Takahito Kumazaki, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 10587089
    Abstract: A solid state laser device includes a seed laser that outputs continuous wave laser seed light, a light intensity changeable unit that changes a light intensity thereof and outputs seed pulse light, a CW excitation laser that outputs continuous wave excitation light, an amplifier that amplifies the seed pulse light and outputs amplified light based on an amplification gain increased by the excitation light, a wavelength conversion unit that converts a wavelength of the amplified light and outputs harmonic light, and a light intensity control unit that allows the light intensity changeable unit to output the seed pulse light after a certain time elapsed from an input of an external trigger signal each time the signal is input and output suppression light that suppresses an increase of the amplification gain in a period after an output of the seed pulse light until an input of a next external trigger signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 10, 2020
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Takashi Onose, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Publication number: 20200067257
    Abstract: A laser apparatus including an optical element made of a CaF2 crystal and configured to transmit an ultraviolet laser beam obliquely incident on one surface of the optical element, the electric field axis of the P-polarized component of the laser beam propagating through the optical element coinciding with one axis contained in <111> of the CaF2 crystal, with the P-polarized component defined with respect to the one surface. A method for manufacturing an optical element, the method including causing a seed CaF2 crystal to undergo crystal growth along one axis contained in <111> to form an ingot, setting a cutting axis to be an axis inclining by an angle within 14.18±5° with respect to the crystal growth direction toward the direction of another axis contained in <111>, which differs from the crystal growth direction, and cutting the ingot along a plane perpendicular to the cutting axis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2019
    Publication date: February 27, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Daisuke TEI, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20200067259
    Abstract: A laser apparatus according to the present disclosure includes: a laser output unit configured to perform laser oscillation; and a control unit configured to acquire first laser performance data obtained when the laser output unit performs laser oscillation based on a first laser control parameter, and second laser performance data obtained when the laser output unit performs laser oscillation based on a second laser control parameter, while laser output from the laser output unit to an external device is stopped, and determine whether the second laser performance data has been improved as compared to the first laser performance data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 5, 2019
    Publication date: February 27, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroyuki MASUDA, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20200068695
    Abstract: A system for generating extreme ultraviolet light, in which a target material inside a chamber is irradiated with a laser beam to be turned into plasma, includes a first laser apparatus configured to output a first laser beam, a second laser apparatus configured to output a pedestal and a second laser beam, and a controller connected to the first and second laser apparatuses and configured to cause the first laser beam to be outputted first, the pedestal to be outputted after the first laser beam, and the second laser beam having higher energy than the pedestal to be outputted after the pedestal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 28, 2019
    Publication date: February 27, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Hitoshi NAGANO, Yasunori WADA, Tatsuya YANAGIDA, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Patent number: 10555408
    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: Grant
    Filed: April 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 4, 2020
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Tatsuya Yanagida, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Publication number: 20200025247
    Abstract: A gas laser apparatus includes: a magnetic bearing including an electromagnet capable of controlling a magnetic force, and configured to rotatably support a rotary shaft of a fan in a magnetically levitated state by the magnetic force, the fan being configured to supply a laser gas; an electromagnet control unit configured to control the magnetic force of the electromagnet based on displacement of a levitated position of the rotary shaft and adjust the levitated position; a motor configured to generate torque for rotating the fan; a magnetic coupling configured to couple the rotary shaft and a drive shaft of a motor with a magnetic attractive force and transmit the torque of the motor to the rotary shaft; an attractive force estimating sensor configured to detect a parameter that enables an attractive force of the magnetic coupling to be estimated; an attractive force measuring unit configured to measure the attractive force of the magnetic coupling based on the detected parameter; and a correction unit confi
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 12, 2019
    Publication date: January 23, 2020
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Masaharu MIKI, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20190394868
    Abstract: An EUV light generator including the following components: A. an electron storage ring including a first linear section and a second linear section; B. an electron supplier configured to supply the electron storage ring with an electron bunch; C. a high-frequency acceleration cavity disposed in the first linear section and configured to accelerate the electron bunch in such a way that a length Lez of the electron bunch satisfies “0.09 m?Lez?3 m;” and D. an undulator disposed in the second linear section and configured to output EUV light when the electron bunch enters the undulator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 4, 2019
    Publication date: December 26, 2019
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Shinji OKAZAKI, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Patent number: 10512148
    Abstract: A system for generating extreme ultraviolet light, in which a target material inside a chamber is irradiated with a laser beam to be turned into plasma, includes a first laser apparatus configured to output a first laser beam, a second laser apparatus configured to output a pedestal and a second laser beam, and a controller connected to the first and second laser apparatuses and configured to cause the first laser beam to be outputted first, the pedestal to be outputted after the first laser beam, and the second laser beam having higher energy than the pedestal to be outputted after the pedestal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Hitoshi Nagano, Yasunori Wada, Tatsuya Yanagida, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 10495890
    Abstract: A laser exposure system may include a plurality of laser devices configured to output laser beams with which an irradiated subject is irradiated, and at least one beam property adjustment unit disposed on optical paths of the laser beams outputted from the plurality of laser devices, and configured to allow beam properties of the laser beams to be approximately a same as each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2019
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Osamu Wakabayashi, Kouji Kakizaki, Junichi Fujimoto
  • Patent number: 10475650
    Abstract: A laser doping device includes: a solution supply system configured to supply a solution containing dopant to a doping region; a pulse laser system configured to output pulse laser light including a plurality of pulses, the pulse laser light transmitting through the solution; a first control unit configured to control a number of pulses of the pulse laser light for allowing the doping region to be irradiated, and to control a fluence of the pulse laser light in the doping region; and a second control unit configured to control a flow velocity of the solution so as to move bubbles, from the doping region, occurring in the solution every time of irradiation with the pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignees: KYUSHU UNIVERSITY, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION, Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Ikenoue, Akira Suwa, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 10466414
    Abstract: A grating for line-narrowing a laser beam that is outputted from a laser apparatus at a wavelength in a vacuum ultraviolet region may include: a grating substrate; a first aluminum metal film formed above the grating substrate, the first aluminum metal film having grooves in a surface thereof; and a first protective film formed by an ALD method above the first aluminum metal film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Hirotaka Miyamoto, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Patent number: 10447001
    Abstract: A laser unit may include a laser chamber including a pair of discharge electrodes that are opposed to each other in a first direction with an electrode gap interposed in between and are configured to provide a discharge width in a second direction, orthogonal to the first direction, smaller than the electrode gap; and an optical resonator including a first optical member and a second optical member that are opposed to each other in a third direction orthogonal to both the first direction and the second direction with the discharge electrodes interposed in between, and configured to amplify laser light generated between the discharge electrodes and output amplified laser light, the optical resonator satisfying the following expression to configure a stable resonator in the second direction: 0<G1·G2<1 where G1 is a G parameter of the first optical member, and G2 is a G parameter of the second optical member.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Minoru Taniyama, Hakaru Mizoguchi, Osamu Wakabayashi
  • Publication number: 20190313519
    Abstract: An extreme ultraviolet light generation system includes: a target supply unit configured to output a target toward a predetermined region; a drive laser configured to output a drive laser beam in a first duration; a guide laser configured to output a guide laser beam; a beam combiner configured to substantially align the optical path axes of the drive and guide laser beams and output the laser beams; a laser beam focusing optical system configured to focus the laser beams output from the beam combiner to the predetermined region; an actuator configured to change the focusing positions of the laser beams through the laser beam focusing optical system; an optical sensor configured to detect reflected light of the guide laser beam from the target; and a control unit configured to control the actuator so that the light amount of the reflected light thus detected increases in a second duration.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2019
    Publication date: October 10, 2019
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Takayuki YABU, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20190305508
    Abstract: A solid state laser device includes a seed laser that outputs continuous wave laser seed light, a light intensity changeable unit that changes a light intensity thereof and outputs seed pulse light, a CW excitation laser that outputs continuous wave excitation light, an amplifier that amplifies the seed pulse light and outputs amplified light based on an amplification gain increased by the excitation light, a wavelength conversion unit that converts a wavelength of the amplified light and outputs harmonic light, and a light intensity control unit that allows the light intensity changeable unit to output the seed pulse light after a certain time elapsed from an input of an external trigger signal each time the signal is input and output suppression light that suppresses an increase of the amplification gain in a period after an output of the seed pulse light until an input of a next external trigger signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2019
    Publication date: October 3, 2019
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Takashi ONOSE, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20190283179
    Abstract: A laser processing system includes: a wavelength-variable laser device configured to output each of a laser beam at an absorption line as a wavelength at which light is absorbed by oxygen and a laser beam at a non-absorption line as a wavelength at which the amount of light absorption by oxygen is smaller than at the absorption line; an optical system configured to irradiate a workpiece with the laser beam; and a laser control unit configured to control the wavelength-variable laser device, set the wavelength of the laser beam output from the wavelength-variable laser device to be the non-absorption line when laser processing is performed on the surface of the workpiece in gas containing oxygen, and set the wavelength of the laser beam output from the wavelength-variable laser device to be the absorption line when ozone cleaning is performed on the surface of the workpiece in gas containing oxygen.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 8, 2019
    Publication date: September 19, 2019
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Kouji KAKIZAKI, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20190283177
    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: Application
    Filed: June 3, 2019
    Publication date: September 19, 2019
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Kouji KAKIZAKI, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20190252190
    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: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2019
    Publication date: August 15, 2019
    Applicants: Kyushu University, Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Tomoyuki OHKUBO, Hiroshi IKENOUE, Akihiro IKEDA, Tanemasa ASANO, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Publication number: 20190245321
    Abstract: A laser apparatus includes: (A) a solid-state laser apparatus that outputs burst seed pulsed light containing a plurality of pulses; (B) an excimer amplifier that amplifies the burst seed pulsed light in a discharge space in a single occurrence of discharge and outputs the amplified light as amplified burst pulsed light; (C) an energy sensor that measures the energy of the amplified burst pulsed light; and (D) a laser controller that corrects the timing at which the solid-state laser apparatus is caused to output the burst seed pulsed light based on the relationship of the difference between the timing at which the solid-state laser apparatus outputs the burst seed pulsed light and the timing at which the discharge occurs in the discharge space with a measured value of the energy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2019
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Applicant: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Kouji KAKIZAKI, Osamu WAKABAYASHI
  • Patent number: 10371469
    Abstract: A device for controlling the temperature of cooling water includes a three-way valve having a first inlet, a second inlet, and an outlet; a first feed pipe; a second feed pipe; and a return pipe for connecting between an outlet of the temperature-control target and an inlet of the cooling water supply unit. The device also includes a return-side bypass pipe for connecting between the return pipe and the second inlet of the three-way valve; a pump provided on the second feed pipe for circulating the cooling water between the three-way valve and the temperature-control target; and a temperature measuring unit for measuring a temperature of the cooling water flowing in the second feed pipe. In addition, the device includes a controller for controlling the three-way valve and the pump in accordance with a detection result of the temperature measuring unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: Gigaphoton Inc.
    Inventors: Yasufumi Kawasuji, Masazumi Komori, Osamu Wakabayashi