Patents by Inventor Tatehito Usui
Tatehito Usui 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).
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Patent number: 11915951Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus includes a stage disposed in a processing chamber for mounting a wafer, a plasma generation chamber disposed above the processing chamber for plasma generation using process gas, a plate member having multiple introduction holes, made of a dielectric material, disposed above the stage and between the processing chamber and the plasma generation chamber, and a lamp disposed around the plate member for heating the wafer. The plasma processing apparatus further includes an external IR light source, an emission fiber arranged in the stage, that outputs IR light from the external IR light source toward a wafer bottom, and a light collection fiber for collecting IR light from the wafer. Data obtained using only IR light from the lamp is subtracted from data obtained also using IR light from the external IR light source during heating of the wafer. Thus, a wafer temperature is determined.Type: GrantFiled: June 26, 2020Date of Patent: February 27, 2024Assignee: HITACHI HIGH-TECH CORPORATIONInventors: Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Nobuya Miyoshi, Kazunori Shinoda, Tatehito Usui, Naoyuki Kofuji, Yutaka Kouzuma, Tomoyuki Watanabe, Kenetsu Yokogawa, Satoshi Sakai, Masaru Izawa
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Publication number: 20240047239Abstract: The plasma processing device according to the present invention includes a processing chamber in which a sample is plasma processed, a radio frequency power supply which supplies radio frequency power for generating plasma, and a sample stand on which the sample is placed. The plasma processing device includes a control device which measures a thickness of a protective film selectively formed on a desired material of the sample using an interference light reflecting from the sample which has been irradiated with an ultraviolet-ray, or determines selectivity of the protective film using the interference light reflecting from the sample which has been irradiated with the ultraviolet-ray.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 16, 2020Publication date: February 8, 2024Inventors: Miyako Matsui, Tatehito Usui, Kenichi Kuwahara
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Patent number: 11875978Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus 1 that performs, on a wafer 16 in which a multilayer film in which an insulating film and a film to be processed containing a metal are alternately laminated is formed on a substrate, plasma etching of the film to be processed, includes: a processing chamber 10 which is disposed inside a vacuum container; a sample stage 14 which is disposed inside the processing chamber and on which the wafer is placed; a detection unit 28 which detects reflected light obtained by the wafer reflecting light emitted to the wafer; a control unit 40 which controls plasma processing on the wafer; and an end point determination unit 30 which determines an etching end point of the film to be processed based on a change in an amplitude of vibration in a wavelength direction of a light spectrum of the reflected light, and the control unit receives determination of the end point made by the end point determination unit and stops the plasma processing on the wafer.Type: GrantFiled: June 16, 2020Date of Patent: January 16, 2024Assignee: Hitachi High-Tech CorporationInventors: Tsubasa Okamoto, Tatehito Usui, Miyako Matsui, Shigeru Nakamoto, Naohiro Kawamoto, Atsushi Sekiguchi
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Publication number: 20230215710Abstract: A process of detecting a thickness of a film layer to be processed or a depth of etching by using a result of detection of a signal indicating intensity of interference light having a plurality of wavelengths formed at a plurality of time instants from when plasma is formed to when the etching is completed. A start time instant is detected by using an amount of change in the intensity of the interference light. Then, a remaining film thickness or the etching amount at an arbitrary time instant is detected from a result of comparing actual data indicating the intensity of the interference light at the arbitrary time instant during the processing after the start time instant with a plurality of pieces of data for detection of the intensity of the interference light obtained in advance and associated with values of a the film thicknesses or the depths of etching.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 17, 2020Publication date: July 6, 2023Inventors: Mitsuru Nagasawa, Soichiro Eto, Tatehito Usui, Shigeru Nakamoto
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Publication number: 20230118576Abstract: This invention provides a wafer processing method comprising a process of irradiating a wafer to be processed placed on the upper surface of a sample table arranged in a processing chamber with light or electromagnetic waves to heat and remove a compound layer of a film layer that is preliminarily formed on the upper surface of the film layer of the upper surface of the wafer, wherein in the process, by receiving the light or electromagnetic waves reflected by the upper surface of the wafer, a signal indicating a temporal change in intensity using the wavelength of the light or electromagnetic waves as a parameter is corrected using information of the intensity of the light or electromagnetic waves detected by receiving the light or electromagnetic waves at a position on the circumferential side of the upper surface of the sample table.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 20, 2019Publication date: April 20, 2023Inventors: Hiroyuki Kobayashi, Atsushi Sekiguchi, Tatehito Usui, Soichiro Eto, Shigeru Nakamoto, Kazunori Shinoda, Nobuya Miyoshi
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Publication number: 20230096723Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus 1 that performs, on a wafer 16 in which a multilayer film in which an insulating film and a film to be processed containing a metal are alternately laminated is formed on a substrate, plasma etching of the film to be processed, includes: a processing chamber 10 which is disposed inside a vacuum container; a sample stage 14 which is disposed inside the processing chamber and on which the wafer is placed; a detection unit 28 which detects reflected light obtained by the wafer reflecting light emitted to the wafer; a control unit 40 which controls plasma processing on the wafer; and an end point determination unit 30 which determines an etching end point of the film to be processed based on a change in an amplitude of vibration in a wavelength direction of a light spectrum of the reflected light, and the control unit receives determination of the end point made by the end point determination unit and stops the plasma processing on the wafer.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 16, 2020Publication date: March 30, 2023Inventors: Tsubasa Okamoto, Tatehito Usui, Miyako Matsui, Shigeru Nakamoto, Naohiro Kawamoto, Atsushi Sekiguchi
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Patent number: 11569135Abstract: To provide a wavelength selection method or a plasma processing method to achieve accurate detection of residual thickness or etching amount, there is provided a plasma processing method, in which a processing object wafer is disposed within a processing chamber in the inside of a vacuum container, and plasma is generated by supplying a processing gas into the processing chamber and used to process a processing-object film layer beforehand formed on a surface of the wafer, and at least two wavelengths are selected from among wavelengths with large mutual information in emission of a plurality of wavelengths of plasma generated during processing of the processing-object film layer, and a temporal change in the emission of at least the two wavelengths is detected, and an endpoint of the processing of the film layer is determined based on a result of the detection.Type: GrantFiled: December 23, 2019Date of Patent: January 31, 2023Assignee: HITACHI HIGH-TECH CORPORATIONInventors: Yohei Kawaguchi, Tatehito Usui, Shigeru Nakamoto
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Publication number: 20220367298Abstract: A plasma processing method to detect and process a thickness of the processing target film with high accuracy when a fine shape of the semiconductor wafer surface varies, including detecting a state of a processing target film of a processing target material that is processed inside a vacuum processing chamber; detecing light emission of the plasma; obtaining a differential waveform data of the light emission of the plasma; storing a plurality of pieces of differential waveform pattern data in advance; calculating an estimated value of the film thickness of the processing target film processed on the processing target material by weighting based on differences between the differential waveform data obtained and the plurality of pieces of differential waveform pattern data stored; and determining an end point of processing using the plasma based on the estimated value of the film thickness of the processing target film calculated.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 1, 2022Publication date: November 17, 2022Inventors: Kousuke Fukuchi, Ryoji Asakura, Soichiro Eto, Tsubasa Okamoto, Tatehito Usui, Shigeru Nakamoto
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Patent number: 11462416Abstract: Provided is a plasma processing method for plasma etching an etching target film formed on a sample. The method includes a protective film forming step of selectively forming a protective film on an upper portion of a pattern formed on the sample and adjusting a width of the formed protective film such that a distribution of the width of the formed protective film in a surface of the sample becomes a desired distribution, and a step of plasma etching the etching target film after the protective film forming step.Type: GrantFiled: December 17, 2019Date of Patent: October 4, 2022Assignee: HITACHI HIGH-TECH CORPORATIONInventors: Miyako Matsui, Kenichi Kuwahara, Tatehito Usui, Hiroyuki Kobayashi
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Patent number: 11437289Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus including a processing state detection unit having: a light emission detection unit to detect light emission of the plasma; a calculation unit to obtain a differential waveform data of the light emission of the plasma; a database unit that stores a plurality of pieces of differential waveform pattern data in advance; a film thickness calculation unit to calculate an estimated value of the film thickness of the processing target film processed on the processing target material by weighting based on differences between the differential waveform data obtained by the calculation unit and the plurality of pieces of differential waveform pattern data stored in the database unit; and an end point determination unit to determine an end point of processing using the plasma based on the estimated value of the film thickness of the processing target film calculated by the film thickness calculation unit.Type: GrantFiled: September 30, 2020Date of Patent: September 6, 2022Assignee: HITACHI HIGH-TECH CORPORATIONInventors: Kousuke Fukuchi, Ryoji Asakura, Soichiro Eto, Tsubasa Okamoto, Tatehito Usui, Shigeru Nakamoto
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Patent number: 11424110Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus includes: a detector configured to detect a change in an intensity of light emission from plasma formed inside a processing chamber; and a unit configured to adjust conditions for forming the plasma or processing a wafer arranged inside the processing chamber using an output from the detector, wherein the detector detects a signal of the intensity of light emission at plural time instants before an arbitrary time instant during processing, and wherein the adjusting unit removes the component of a temporal change of a long cycle of the intensity of light emission from this detected signal and detects the component of a short temporal change of the intensity of light emission, and adjusts the conditions for forming the plasma or processing a wafer arranged inside the processing chamber based on the short temporal change of the detected intensity of light emission.Type: GrantFiled: August 15, 2017Date of Patent: August 23, 2022Assignee: HITACHI HIGH-TECH CORPORATIONInventors: Masahito Togami, Tatehito Usui, Kosa Hirota, Satomi Inoue, Shigeru Nakamoto
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Publication number: 20220102226Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus including a processing state detection unit having: a light emission detection unit to detect light emission of the plasma; a calculation unit to obtain a differential waveform data of the light emission of the plasma; a database unit that stores a plurality of pieces of differential waveform pattern data in advance; a film thickness calculation unit to calculate an estimated value of the film thickness of the processing target film processed on the processing target material by weighting based on differences between the differential waveform data obtained by the calculation unit and the plurality of pieces of differential waveform pattern data stored in the database unit; and an end point determination unit to determine an end point of processing using the plasma based on the estimated value of the film thickness of the processing target film calculated by the film thickness calculation unit.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 30, 2020Publication date: March 31, 2022Inventors: Kousuke Fukuchi, Ryoji Asakura, Soichiro Eto, Tsubasa Okamoto, Tatehito Usui, Shigeru Nakamoto
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Patent number: 11287782Abstract: A computer for determining a control parameter of processing to be performed on a sample includes: a memory unit configured to store a first model indicating a correlation between a first processing output obtained by measuring a first sample used for manufacturing, on which the processing is performed and a second processing output obtained by measuring a second sample that is easier to measure than the first sample and on which the processing is performed, and a second model indicating a correlation between a control parameter of the processing performed on the second sample and the second processing output; and an analysis unit configured to calculate a target control parameter of the processing performed on the first sample based on a target processing output as the target first processing output, the first model, and the second model.Type: GrantFiled: April 30, 2018Date of Patent: March 29, 2022Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.Inventors: Takeshi Ohmori, Hyakka Nakada, Masaru Kurihara, Tatehito Usui, Naoyuki Kofuji
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Patent number: 11239097Abstract: In thickness/depth measurement of a wafer in etching, variation occurs in detected light quantity due to fluctuation of light quantity of a light source or fluctuation of air in a region through which light passes, and measurement accuracy of thickness/depth is reduced, and thus the total light quantity or average light quantity of an arbitrary wavelength is calculated from an optical spectrum measured at each time instant during etching, estimated total light quantity or estimated average light quantity at the present time, which is estimated using total light quantity or average light quantity measured prior to the present time, is calculated, a change rate, as a ratio of the total light quantity at the present time to the estimated total light quantity or a ratio of the average light quantity to the estimated average light quantity, is calculated, the calculated change rate is used to correct light quantity of each wavelength at the present time, and the corrected light quantity of each wavelength is usedType: GrantFiled: February 8, 2019Date of Patent: February 1, 2022Assignee: HITACHI HIGH-TECH CORPORATIONInventors: Soichiro Eto, Hiroyuki Minemura, Tatehito Usui
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Patent number: 11152237Abstract: A sample simulates a processing state of a semiconductor sample and is measured by a measurement device. The sample includes: a first surface formed at a first height when viewed from a sample surface; a second surface formed at a second height higher than the first height; and a plurality of inflow parts which allow a particle for performing processing on the first surface to flow between the first surface and the second surface. The processing by the particle flowing from the inflow parts is superimposed in at least a part of a region to be processed on the first surface, and the region where the processing is superimposed on the first surface is measured by the measurement device.Type: GrantFiled: December 17, 2019Date of Patent: October 19, 2021Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.Inventors: Hyakka Nakada, Takeshi Ohmori, Tatehito Usui, Masaru Kurihara, Naoyuki Kofuji
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Patent number: 11112775Abstract: A system for determining a processing procedure including a plurality of processes for controlling an object, the system includes a learning unit for performing a learning process for determining a processing condition of each of a plurality of processes, and the learning unit acquires a physical quantity correlating with a state of the object on which a process has been performed under a predetermined processing condition, from a device for controlling the object on the basis of the processing procedure, calculates a pseudo state corresponding to the state of the object on the basis of the physical quantity, performs a learning process using a value function, and determines a processing condition of each of the plurality of processes to achieve a target state of the object.Type: GrantFiled: June 4, 2019Date of Patent: September 7, 2021Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.Inventors: Hyakka Nakada, Takeshi Ohmori, Tatehito Usui, Masaru Kurihara
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Publication number: 20210249317Abstract: To provide a wavelength selection method or a plasma processing method to achieve accurate detection of residual thickness or etching amount, there is provided a plasma processing method, in which a processing object wafer is disposed within a processing chamber in the inside of a vacuum container, and plasma is generated by supplying a processing gas into the processing chamber and used to process a processing-object film layer beforehand formed on a surface of the wafer, and at least two wavelengths are selected from among wavelengths with large mutual information in emission of a plurality of wavelengths of plasma generated during processing of the processing-object film layer, and a temporal change in the emission of at least the two wavelengths is detected, and an endpoint of the processing of the film layer is determined based on a result of the detection.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 23, 2019Publication date: August 12, 2021Applicant: Hitachi High-Tech CorporationInventors: Yohei Kawaguchi, Tatehito Usui, Shigeru Nakamoto
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Publication number: 20210225674Abstract: In thickness/depth measurement of a wafer in etching, variation occurs in detected light quantity due to fluctuation of light quantity of a light source or fluctuation of air in a region through which light passes, and measurement accuracy of thickness/depth is reduced, and thus the total light quantity or average light quantity of an arbitrary wavelength is calculated from an optical spectrum measured at each time instant during etching, estimated total light quantity or estimated average light quantity at the present time, which is estimated using total light quantity or average light quantity measured prior to the present time, is calculated, a change rate, as a ratio of the total light quantity at the present time to the estimated total light quantity or a ratio of the average light quantity to the estimated average light quantity, is calculated, the calculated change rate is used to correct light quantity of each wavelength at the present time, and the corrected light quantity of each wavelength is usedType: ApplicationFiled: February 8, 2019Publication date: July 22, 2021Inventors: Soichiro ETO, Hiroyuki MINEMURA, Tatehito USUI
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Patent number: 10971369Abstract: In cycle etching in which a depo process and an etching process are repeated, a depo film thickness over a pattern is controlled precisely, and etching is executed to have a desired shape stably for a long time.Type: GrantFiled: January 31, 2018Date of Patent: April 6, 2021Assignee: HITACHI HIGH-TECH CORPORATIONInventors: Miyako Matsui, Tatehito Usui, Masaru Izawa, Kenichi Kuwahara
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Publication number: 20200335354Abstract: Provided is a plasma processing method for plasma etching an etching target film formed on a sample. The method includes a protective film forming step of selectively forming a protective film on an upper portion of a pattern formed on the sample and adjusting a width of the formed protective film such that a distribution of the width of the formed protective film in a surface of the sample becomes a desired distribution, and a step of plasma etching the etching target film after the protective film forming step.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 17, 2019Publication date: October 22, 2020Inventors: Miyako Matsui, Kenichi Kuwahara, Tatehito Usui, Hiroyuki Kobayashi