Patents by Inventor Reo WATANABE

Reo WATANABE 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: 12108498
    Abstract: A wafer placement table includes a ceramic plate, an electrode embedded in the ceramic plate, a hollow ceramic shaft attached to a surface of the ceramic plate, a power-supplying member running inside the ceramic shaft and connected to a terminal of the electrode, a plate-side attaching site defined on the ceramic plate and to which the power-supplying member is attached, and a power-source-side attaching site defined at a free end of the ceramic shaft and to which the power-supplying member is attached. The power-source-side attaching site is defined in correspondence with the plate-side attaching site and in such a manner as to be shifted from the plate-side attaching site in plan view. The power-supplying member includes a redirecting portion where the power-supplying member extending from the power-source-side attaching site is forcibly redirected toward the plate-side attaching site.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2024
    Assignee: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Yuma Iwata, Seiya Inoue, Reo Watanabe
  • Publication number: 20230402306
    Abstract: A wafer placement table includes: a ceramic substrate having a wafer placement surface and incorporating an electrode; a conductive embedded member electrically connected to the electrode; a conductive terminal with a female thread, the conductive terminal being electrically connected to the conductive embedded member, having a projection projecting from a surface, on an opposite side to the wafer placement surface, of the ceramic substrate, having the female thread at an end face of the projection; a conductive adapter that is mounted on the end face of the projection of the conductive terminal with the female thread, has a communication hole that communicates with the female thread, and is non-rotatable relative to the conductive terminal with the female thread; and a conductive connection member with a male thread, the conductive connection member having the male thread screwed into the female thread through the communication hole, and being integrated with the adapter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2023
    Publication date: December 14, 2023
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Reo WATANABE, Daisuke TSUNEKAWA, Kanto WATANABE
  • Patent number: 11688590
    Abstract: An electrostatic-chuck heater is of a Johnsen-Rahbek type and is used in a process of forming a conductive film on a wafer. The electrostatic-chuck heater includes a disc-shaped ceramic base including an electrostatic electrode and a heating resistor, and a hollow shaft attached to a side of the ceramic base that is opposite a side having a wafer-mounting surface. A through-hole extends in a peripheral wall of the hollow shaft from a lower end through to an area of the wafer-mounting surface that is on an inner side with respect to a circular groove. The through-hole allows gas to be supplied from the lower end of the hollow shaft into a below-wafer space enclosed by the wafer-mounting surface, an outermost projection group, and the wafer mounted on the wafer-mounting surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 27, 2023
    Assignee: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Yutaka Unno, Reo Watanabe
  • Patent number: 11664203
    Abstract: An electrostatic-chuck heater is a Johnsen-Rahbek electrostatic-chuck heater and is used in a process of forming a conductive film on a wafer. The electrostatic-chuck heater includes a disc-shaped ceramic base including an electrostatic electrode and a heating resistor, and a hollow shaft attached to a side of the ceramic base that is opposite a wafer-mounting surface. A protruding ring is provided on the wafer-mounting surface and having an outside diameter smaller than a diameter of the wafer. A through-hole extends in a peripheral wall of the hollow shaft from a lower end through to an area of the wafer-mounting surface that is on an inner side with respect to the protruding ring. The through-hole allows gas to be supplied from the lower end of the hollow shaft into a below-wafer space enclosed by the wafer-mounting surface, the protruding ring, and the wafer mounted on the wafer-mounting surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 30, 2023
    Assignee: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Yutaka Unno, Reo Watanabe
  • Publication number: 20220124875
    Abstract: A wafer placement table includes a ceramic plate, an electrode embedded in the ceramic plate, a hollow ceramic shaft attached to a surface of the ceramic plate, a power-supplying member running inside the ceramic shaft and connected to a terminal of the electrode, a plate-side attaching site defined on the ceramic plate and to which the power-supplying member is attached, and a power-source-side attaching site defined at a free end of the ceramic shaft and to which the power-supplying member is attached. The power-source-side attaching site is defined in correspondence with the plate-side attaching site and in such a manner as to be shifted from the plate-side attaching site in plan view. The power-supplying member includes a redirecting portion where the power-supplying member extending from the power-source-side attaching site is forcibly redirected toward the plate-side attaching site.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2021
    Publication date: April 21, 2022
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Yuma IWATA, Seiya INOUE, Reo WATANABE
  • Publication number: 20220124874
    Abstract: A wafer placement table includes a ceramic plate, an electrode embedded in the ceramic plate, a hollow ceramic shaft attached to a surface of the ceramic plate, a power-supplying member running inside the ceramic shaft and connected to a terminal of the electrode, a plate-side attaching site defined on the ceramic plate and to which the power-supplying member is attached, a power-source-side attaching site defined at a free end of the ceramic shaft and to which the power-supplying member is attached, and a redirecting member provided inside the ceramic shaft. The power-source-side attaching site is defined in correspondence with the plate-side attaching site and in such a manner as to be shifted from the plate-side attaching site in plan view. The redirecting member holds the power-supplying member such that the power-supplying member extending from the power-source-side attaching site is forcibly redirected toward the plate-side attaching site.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 1, 2021
    Publication date: April 21, 2022
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Seiya INOUE, Reo WATANABE, Yuma IWATA
  • Patent number: 11223302
    Abstract: An electrostatic chuck has a structure in which an electrostatic electrode is embedded in a disk-like ceramic plate and attracts a wafer that is placed on the ceramic plate and that has a diameter smaller than that of the ceramic plate by Johnsen-Rahbek force. The electrostatic chuck includes an insulating film that has an electric resistance larger than that of the ceramic plate in an annular region of a front surface of the ceramic plate from an outer circumferential edge of the ceramic plate to the inside of an outer circumferential edge of the wafer that is placed on the ceramic plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 11, 2022
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Reo Watanabe, Nobuyuki Kondou, Yutaka Unno
  • Publication number: 20200312696
    Abstract: An electrostatic-chuck heater is a Johnsen-Rahbek electrostatic-chuck heater and is used in a process of forming a conductive film on a wafer. The electrostatic-chuck heater includes a disc-shaped ceramic base including an electrostatic electrode and a heating resistor, and a hollow shaft attached to a side of the ceramic base that is opposite a wafer-mounting surface. A protruding ring is provided on the wafer-mounting surface and having an outside diameter smaller than a diameter of the wafer. A through-hole extends in a peripheral wall of the hollow shaft from a lower end through to an area of the wafer-mounting surface that is on an inner side with respect to the protruding ring. The through-hole allows gas to be supplied from the lower end of the hollow shaft into a below-wafer space enclosed by the wafer-mounting surface, the protruding ring, and the wafer mounted on the wafer-mounting surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2020
    Publication date: October 1, 2020
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Yutaka UNNO, Reo WATANABE
  • Publication number: 20200126773
    Abstract: An electrostatic-chuck heater is of a Johnsen-Rahbek type and is used in a process of forming a conductive film on a wafer. The electrostatic-chuck heater includes a disc-shaped ceramic base including an electrostatic electrode and a heating resistor, and a hollow shaft attached to a side of the ceramic base that is opposite a side having a wafer-mounting surface. A through-hole extends in a peripheral wall of the hollow shaft from a lower end through to an area of the wafer-mounting surface that is on an inner side with respect to a circular groove. The through-hole allows gas to be supplied from the lower end of the hollow shaft into a below-wafer space enclosed by the wafer-mounting surface, an outermost projection group, and the wafer mounted on the wafer-mounting surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Publication date: April 23, 2020
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Yutaka UNNO, Reo WATANABE
  • Publication number: 20200111697
    Abstract: An electrostatic chuck has a structure in which an electrostatic electrode is embedded in a disk-like ceramic plate and attracts a wafer that is placed on the ceramic plate and that has a diameter smaller than that of the ceramic plate by Johnsen-Rahbek force. The electrostatic chuck includes an insulating film that has an electric resistance larger than that of the ceramic plate in an annular region of a front surface of the ceramic plate from an outer circumferential edge of the ceramic plate to the inside of an outer circumferential edge of the wafer that is placed on the ceramic plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2019
    Publication date: April 9, 2020
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Reo WATANABE, Nobuyuki KONDOU, Yutaka UNNO
  • Publication number: 20190131163
    Abstract: A wafer susceptor includes a conductive member attached to a surface of a plate, a through-hole penetrating through the plate and the conductive member, a screw hole formed in a conductive-member penetrating portion of the through-hole, a stopper surface formed in the conductive member, an insulation pipe screwed into the screw hole, and an insulating sealing member arranged between a plate-facing surface of the insulation pipe and the plate, wherein, with a contact surface of the insulation pipe coming into contact with the stopper surface of the conductive member, the insulation pipe is prevented from further advancing into the screw hole, a fore end surface of a sealing-member support portion of the insulation pipe is positioned at a predetermined position where the fore end surface does not contact the plate, and the sealing member is pressed between the plate-facing surface of the insulation pipe and the plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 24, 2018
    Publication date: May 2, 2019
    Applicant: NGK Insulators,LTD.
    Inventors: Tatsuya KUNO, Reo WATANABE
  • Patent number: 10199245
    Abstract: The electrostatic chuck includes a discoidal alumina ceramic substrate and a heater electrode and an electrostatic electrode embedded in the alumina ceramic substrate. The top surface of the alumina ceramic substrate is a wafer-mounting face. The heater electrode has a pattern, for example, of a single continuous line so as to realize electric wiring over the entire surface of the alumina ceramic substrate. Upon the application of a voltage, the heater electrode generates heat and heats the wafer W. The heater electrode is made of a complex oxide of titanium, aluminum, and magnesium (Ti—Al—Mg—O) dispersed in molybdenum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: NGK Insulators, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro Nobori, Takuji Kimura, Reo Watanabe
  • Publication number: 20130256297
    Abstract: The electrostatic chuck 10 includes a discoidal alumina ceramic substrate 12 and a heater electrode 14 and an electrostatic electrode 16 embedded in the alumina ceramic substrate 12. The top surface of the alumina ceramic substrate 12 is a wafer-mounting face 12a. The heater electrode 14 has a pattern, for example, of a single continuous line so as to realize electric wiring over the entire surface of the alumina ceramic substrate 12. Upon the application of a voltage, the heater electrode 14 generates heat and heats the wafer W. The heater electrode 14 is made of a complex oxide of titanium, aluminum, and magnesium (Ti—Al—Mg—O) dispersed in molybdenum.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2013
    Publication date: October 3, 2013
    Applicant: NGK INSULATORS, LTD.
    Inventors: Kazuhiro NOBORI, Takuji KIMURA, Reo WATANABE