Patents by Inventor Shunpei Yamazaki

Shunpei Yamazaki 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: 20110210324
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a light-emitting device in which plural kinds of circuits are formed over one substrate and plural kinds of thin film transistors corresponding to characteristics of the plural kinds of circuits are provided. An inverted coplanar thin film transistor in which an oxide semiconductor layer overlaps with a source electrode layer and a drain electrode layer is used for a pixel, and a channel-etched thin film transistor is used for a driver circuit. A color filter layer is provided between the pixel thin film transistor and a light-emitting element which is electrically connected to the pixel thin film transistor so as to overlap with the light-emitting element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2010
    Publication date: September 1, 2011
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Masayuki SAKAKURA, Yoshiaki OIKAWA, Shunpei YAMAZAKI, Junichiro SAKATA, Masashi TSUBUKU, Kengo AKIMOTO, Miyuki HOSOBA
  • Publication number: 20110210957
    Abstract: In a still image display mode, a driving signal and power supply voltage are supplied to a first driver circuit and a driving signal and power supply voltage are supplied to a second driver circuit, and an image signal is output to n pixels. After that, at least the supply of the driving signal and the power supply voltage to the second driver circuit is stopped and an image of the pixel portion based on the image signal is held as a still image. A series of these operations is performed N (N is a natural number) times. In the case where N is 2 or more, stopping the supply of the driving signal and the power supply voltage to the second driver circuit in a K-th (K is a natural number, 2?K?N) period is set longer than that in a (K?1)-th period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2011
    Publication date: September 1, 2011
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jun Koyama, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Publication number: 20110210328
    Abstract: A semiconductor device which includes a thin film transistor having an oxide semiconductor layer and excellent electrical characteristics is provided. Further, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device in which plural kinds of thin film transistors of different structures are formed over one substrate to form plural kinds of circuits and in which the number of steps is not greatly increased is provided. After a metal thin film is formed over an insulating surface, an oxide semiconductor layer is formed thereover. Then, oxidation treatment such as heat treatment is performed to oxidize the metal thin film partly or entirely. Further, structures of thin film transistors are different between a circuit in which emphasis is placed on the speed of operation, such as a logic circuit, and a matrix circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2011
    Publication date: September 1, 2011
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shunpei YAMAZAKI, Junichiro SAKATA, Jun KOYAMA
  • Publication number: 20110210336
    Abstract: For forming a gate electrode, a conductive film with low resistance including Al or a material containing Al as its main component and a conductive film with low contact resistance for preventing diffusion of Al into a semiconductor layer are laminated, and the gate electrode is fabricated by using an apparatus which is capable of performing etching treatment at high speed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2011
    Publication date: September 1, 2011
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Hideomi Suzawa, Koji Ono, Yoshihiro Kusuyama
  • Publication number: 20110212571
    Abstract: A semiconductor device which includes a thin film transistor having an oxide semiconductor layer and excellent electrical characteristics is provided. Further, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device in which plural kinds of thin film transistors of different structures are formed over one substrate to form plural kinds of circuits and in which the number of steps is not greatly increased is provided. After a metal thin film is formed over an insulating surface, an oxide semiconductor layer is formed thereover. Then, oxidation treatment such as heat treatment is performed to oxidize the metal thin film partly or entirely. Further, structures of thin film transistors are different between a circuit in which emphasis is placed on the speed of operation, such as a logic circuit, and a matrix circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2011
    Publication date: September 1, 2011
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shunpei YAMAZAKI, Junichiro SAKATA, Jun KOYAMA
  • Publication number: 20110212596
    Abstract: An object of an embodiment of the present invention to be disclosed is to prevent oxygen from being taken in a single crystal semiconductor layer in laser irradiation even when crystallinity of the single crystal semiconductor layer is repaired by irradiation with a laser beam; and to make substantially equal or reduce an oxygen concentration in the semiconductor layer after the laser irradiation comparing before the laser irradiation. A single crystal semiconductor layer which is provided over a base substrate by bonding is irradiated with a laser beam, whereby the crystallinity of the single crystal semiconductor layer is repaired. The laser irradiation is performed under a reducing atmosphere or an inert atmosphere.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 12, 2011
    Publication date: September 1, 2011
    Applicant: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Akihisa SHIMOMURA, Hideto OHNUMA, Junpei MOMO, Shunpei YAMAZAKI
  • Patent number: 8008693
    Abstract: A thin film semiconductor transistor structure has a substrate with a dielectric surface, and an active layer made of a semiconductor thin film exhibiting a crystallinity as equivalent to the single-crystalline. To fabricate the transistor, the semiconductor thin film is formed on the substrate, which film includes a mixture of a plurality of crystals which may be columnar crystals and/or capillary crystal substantially parallel to the substrate. The resultant structure is then subject to thermal oxidation in a chosen atmosphere containing halogen, thereby removing away any metallic element as contained in the film. This may enable formation of a mono-domain region in which the individual columnar or capillary crystal is in contact with any adjacent crystals and which is capable of being substantially deemed to be a single-crystalline region without presence or inclusion of any crystal grain boundaries therein. This region is for use in forming the active layer of the transistor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Jun Koyama, Akiharu Miyanaga, Takeshi Fukunaga
  • Patent number: 8008666
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor display device having an interlayer insulating film which can obtain planarity of a surface while controlling film formation time, can control treatment time of heating treatment with an object of removing moisture, and can prevent moisture in the interlayer insulating film from being discharged to a film or an electrode adjacent to the interlayer insulating film. An inorganic insulating film containing nitrogen, which is less likely to transmit moisture compared with an organic resin, is formed so as to cover a TFT. Next, an organic resin film containing photosensitive acrylic resin is applied to the organic insulting film, and the organic resin film is partially exposed to light to be opened. Thereafter, an inorganic insulting film containing nitrogen, which is less likely to transmit moisture compared with an organic resin, is formed so as to cover the opened organic resin film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Satoshi Murakami, Masahiko Hayakawa, Kiyoshi Kato, Mitsuaki Osame
  • Patent number: 8009145
    Abstract: In a conventional display device comprising a sub-display, the display device is increased in thickness and in the number of components as the number of displays is increased. In the present invention, a dual emission display device is used so that either surface of a display is used as a main display or a sub-display. Accordingly, the display device can be reduced in thickness and in the number of components. Further, mechanical reliability can be enhanced when the invention is applied to a tablet PC, a video camera and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Jun Koyama
  • Publication number: 20110207255
    Abstract: A manufacturing method of an active matrix light emitting device in which the active matrix light emitting device can be manufactured in a shorter time with high yield at low cost compared with conventional ones will be provided. It is a feature of the present invention that a layered structure is employed for a metal electrode which is formed in contact with or is electrically connected to a semiconductor layer of each TFT arranged in a pixel area of an active matrix light emitting device. Further, the metal electrode is partially etched and used as a first electrode of a light emitting element. A buffer layer, a layer containing an organic compound, and a second electrode layer are stacked over the first electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 3, 2011
    Publication date: August 25, 2011
    Inventors: Masayuki Sakakura, Takeshi Noda, Hideaki Kuwabara, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Publication number: 20110207248
    Abstract: The concentration of oxygen, which causes problems such as decreases in brightness and dark spots through degradation of electrode materials, is lowered in an organic light emitting element having a layer made from an organic compound between a cathode and an anode, and in a light emitting device structured using the organic light emitting element. The average concentration of impurities contained in a layer made from an organic compound used in order to form an organic light emitting element having layers such as a hole injecting layer, a hole transporting layer, a light emitting layer, an electron transporting layer, and an electron injecting layer, is reduced to 5×1019/cm2 or less, preferably equal to or less than 1×1019/cm2, by removing the impurities with the present invention. Formation apparatuses are structured as stated in the specification in order to reduce the impurities in the organic compounds forming the organic light emitting elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 17, 2011
    Publication date: August 25, 2011
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Yasuyuki Arai
  • Publication number: 20110204424
    Abstract: An object is to provide a semiconductor device in which damages of an element such as a transistor are reduced even when physical force such as bending is externally applied to generate stress in the semiconductor device. A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor film including a channel formation region and an impurity region, which is provided over a substrate, a first conductive film provided over the channel formation region with a gate insulating film interposed therebetween, a first interlayer insulating film provided to cover the first conductive film, a second conductive film provided over the first interlayer insulating film so as to overlap with at least part of the impurity region, a second interlayer insulating film provided over the second conductive film, and a third conductive film provided over the second interlayer insulating film so as to be electrically connected to the impurity region through an opening.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 3, 2011
    Publication date: August 25, 2011
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Ryo ARASAWA, Aya MIYAZAKI, Shigeharu MONOE, Shunpei YAMAZAKI
  • Publication number: 20110205468
    Abstract: A light-condensing means and a pixel electrode may be formed on the same surface side of a substrate, and a region transmitting visible light in the pixel electrode may be provided so as to overlap with an optical axis of the light-condensing means. An anisotropic light-condensing means having a condensing direction X and a non-condensing direction Y may be used, and the light-condensing means may be provided so that the non-condensing direction Y corresponds to a longitudinal direction of the region transmitting visible light in the pixel electrode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 11, 2011
    Publication date: August 25, 2011
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshiharu HIRAKATA, Shunpei YAMAZAKI
  • Publication number: 20110204362
    Abstract: It is an object to provide a semiconductor device including an oxide semiconductor, in which miniaturization of a transistor is achieved and the concentration of an electric field is relieved. The width of a gate electrode is reduced and a space between a source electrode layer and a drain electrode layer is shortened. By adding a rare gas in a self-alignment manner with the use of a gate electrode as a mask, a low-resistance region in contact with a channel formation region can be provided in an oxide semiconductor layer. Accordingly, even when the width of the gate electrode, that is, the line width of a gate wiring is small, the low-resistance region can be provided with high positional accuracy, so that miniaturization of a transistor can be realized.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 14, 2011
    Publication date: August 25, 2011
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kengo AKIMOTO, Ryosuke WATANABE, Masashi TSUBUKU, Shunpei YAMAZAKI
  • Publication number: 20110204360
    Abstract: In order to form a metal thin film, a silicide film, or the like between an upper-layer unit cell and a lower-layer unit cell in stacked-layer photoelectric conversion devices, a step of forming the thin film is additionally needed. Therefore, a problem such as decline in productivity of the photoelectric conversion devices occurs. A first unit cell including a single crystal semiconductor layer with a thickness of 10 ?m or less as a photoelectric conversion layer and a second unit cell including a non-single-crystal semiconductor layer as a photoelectric conversion layer, which is provided over the first unit cell, are at least included, and conductive clusters are dispersed between the unit cells. The conductive clusters are located between the lower-layer unit cell and the upper-layer unit cell to form an ohmic contact; thus, current flows between the both unit cells.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2011
    Publication date: August 25, 2011
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Yasuyuki Arai
  • Patent number: 8004483
    Abstract: Display bright in contrast can be obtained without discrination and flicker in the display device of the direct vision type whose pixel pitches are short to 20 ?m or less. A liquid crystal panel is driven through the frame inverse driving method, and the vertical frame frequency is set to 120 Hz or more. Also, each of the pixels is arranged to correspond to one of R, G and B of color filters disposed on a TFT substrate side.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Jun Koyama, Hirokazu Yamagata
  • Patent number: 8004481
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a display device in which a reverse current sufficient enough to insulate a short-circuited point flows and a transistor using amorphous silicon is used is applied. The display device includes a switching transistor that controls an input of a video signal, a driving transistor that controls a current flowing in a forward direction to a light emitting element, and an AC transistor that controls a current flowing in a reverse direction to the light emitting element; and a reverse bias current can be applied to the light emitting element. Furthermore, the above-described transistors are N-channel transistors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2006
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Hajime Kimura
  • Patent number: 8003958
    Abstract: There is proposed an apparatus for doping a material to be doped by generating plasma (ions) and accelerating it by a high voltage to form an ion current is proposed, which is particularly suitable for processing a substrate having a large area. The ion current is formed to have a linear sectional configuration, and doping is performed by moving a material to be doped in a direction substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of a section of the ion current.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Toshiji Hamatani, Koichiro Tanaka
  • Patent number: 8004183
    Abstract: It is a problem to provide an electric apparatus less in consumption power and long in life by the manufacture using the display device. An insulating bank is provided in a form surrounding the pixel portions on first electrodes over a substrate. The entire surface is applied, by a wet scheme (method), with an organic conductive film which has a thickness form of T2>T1>T3 under the influence of the insulating bank. Accordingly, the portion T3 has an increased resistance in a lateral direction, making possible to prevent against crosstalk. Due to a conductive polymer as a buffer layer, a display device can be provided which is low in drive voltage. Furthermore, because the portion T2 is increased in thickness, the electric-field concentration is relaxed at and around the pixel portion. This makes it possible to prevent the organic light-emitting element from deteriorating at around the pixel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Seo, Shunpei Yamazaki
  • Publication number: 20110199364
    Abstract: An object is to reduce power consumption of a display device and to suppress deterioration of display quality. As a transistor provided for each pixel, a transistor including an oxide semiconductor layer is used. Note that off-state current of the transistor can be decreased when the oxide semiconductor layer is highly purified. Therefore, variation in the value of a data signal due to the off-state current of the transistor can be suppressed. That is, display deterioration (change) which occurs when writing frequency of the data signal to the pixel including the transistor is reduced (when a break period is lengthened) can be suppressed. In addition, flickers in display which generates when the frequency of an alternating-current driving signal supplied to a signal line in the break period is reduced can be suppressed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2011
    Publication date: August 18, 2011
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR ENERGY LABORATORY CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Shunpei Yamazaki, Jun Koyama