Patents by Inventor Yujiro SUDO

Yujiro SUDO 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: 12255071
    Abstract: A grinding apparatus includes a holding table that holds a wafer, a grinding unit that grinds an exposed surface of the wafer held by the holding table, a detecting unit that detects a physical quantity used for determination of the state of exposure of a separation surface of the wafer, and a control unit having an exposure determining unit that determines the state of exposure of the separation surface on the basis of the physical quantity detected by the detecting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignee: Disco Corporation
    Inventors: Satoru Fujimura, Kyohei Ichiishi, Yujiro Sudo
  • Patent number: 11813717
    Abstract: A method of grinding a workpiece includes a holding step of holding the workpiece on a flat holding surface of a holding table and a grinding step of rotating a grinding wheel to turn grindstones along an annular track while rotating the holding table, and bringing the grindstones into grinding contact with an upper surface of the workpiece to thereby grind the workpiece. The grinding step includes the step of bringing the grindstones into grinding contact with the upper surface of the workpiece in a state where the annular track is closest to the holding surface in an area between a point above a center of the holding surface and a point above an outer circumferential end of the holding surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: DISCO CORPORATION
    Inventor: Yujiro Sudo
  • Publication number: 20230249311
    Abstract: A surface irregularity reducing method includes a holding step of holding a first workpiece on a first holder and holding a second workpiece that is of the same material as the first workpiece on a second holder, and a surface irregularity reducing step of moving the first holder and the second holder relatively to each other while the first workpiece held on the first holder and the second workpiece held on the second holder are being kept in contact with each other, thereby removing surface irregularities of a contact surface of at least either the first workpiece or the second workpiece.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2023
    Publication date: August 10, 2023
    Inventors: Satoshi GENDA, Yujiro SUDO
  • Patent number: 11612980
    Abstract: A grinding apparatus includes a chuck table for holding a workpiece thereon, a table base supporting the chuck table, a grinding unit for grinding the workpiece held on the chuck table with a grinding wheel mounted on an end of a spindle, a load detecting unit for detecting a load applied from the grinding unit to the table base, a tilt adjustment unit supporting the table base thereon, for adjusting a tilt of the table base, a storage for storing a correlative relation between loads applied to the table base and changes in the tilt of the table base, and a controller for controlling the tilt adjustment unit based on the load detected by the load detecting unit and the correlative relation, to adjust the tilt of the table base so that a change in the tilt of the table base that corresponds to the detected load is cancelled out.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 28, 2023
    Inventor: Yujiro Sudo
  • Publication number: 20230068840
    Abstract: A grinding apparatus includes a chuck table, a grinding unit, a moving mechanism for moving the chuck table and the grinding unit relatively to each other in predetermined directions, a detector for emitting a web-shaped laser beam and detecting a reflected laser beam thereof, and a control unit. The control unit includes a storing section for storing a relative vertical position of a holding surface to a grinding wheel along the predetermined directions, a first distance calculating section for calculating a first distance in one of the predetermined directions from the detector to a lower surface of the at least one of grindstones, and a lower surface position calculating section for calculating the position of a lower surface of the at least one of grindstones to the holding surface on the basis of the relative vertical position stored in the storing section and the first distance calculated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2022
    Publication date: March 2, 2023
    Inventor: Yujiro SUDO
  • Publication number: 20220395931
    Abstract: An ingot is processed by applying exciting light, and detecting fluorescence occurring from an upper surface of the ingot. A distribution of the number of photons of the fluorescence on the upper surface of the ingot is stored as two-dimensional data in association with XY coordinate positions, and a Z-coordinate position at which the two-dimensional data is obtained is also stored. A laser beam forms a peeling layer by irradiating the ingot while positioning the condensing point of the laser beam at a depth corresponding to the thickness of a wafer from the upper surface of the ingot. A wafer is separated from the ingot with the peeling layer as a starting point, and three-dimensional data is generated representing the distribution of the number of photons of the fluorescence in the whole of the ingot on the basis of two-dimensional data at each Z-coordinate position of the ingot.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2022
    Publication date: December 15, 2022
    Inventors: Asahi NOMOTO, Yujiro SUDO, Kazuya HIRATA, Kunimitsu TAKAHASHI
  • Publication number: 20220199407
    Abstract: A grinding apparatus includes a holding table that holds a wafer, a grinding unit that grinds an exposed surface of the wafer held by the holding table, a detecting unit that detects a physical quantity used for determination of the state of exposure of a separation surface of the wafer, and a control unit having an exposure determining unit that determines the state of exposure of the separation surface on the basis of the physical quantity detected by the detecting unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2021
    Publication date: June 23, 2022
    Inventors: Satoru FUJIMURA, Kyohei ICHIISHI, Yujiro SUDO
  • Publication number: 20210237225
    Abstract: A grinding apparatus includes a chuck table for holding a workpiece thereon, a table base supporting the chuck table, a grinding unit for grinding the workpiece held on the chuck table with a grinding wheel mounted on an end of a spindle, a load detecting unit for detecting a load applied from the grinding unit to the table base, a tilt adjustment unit supporting the table base thereon, for adjusting a tilt of the table base, a storage for storing a correlative relation between loads applied to the table base and changes in the tilt of the table base, and a controller for controlling the tilt adjustment unit based on the load detected by the load detecting unit and the correlative relation, to adjust the tilt of the table base so that a change in the tilt of the table base that corresponds to the detected load is cancelled out.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 14, 2021
    Publication date: August 5, 2021
    Inventor: Yujiro SUDO
  • Publication number: 20210187689
    Abstract: A method of grinding a workpiece includes a holding step of holding the workpiece on a flat holding surface of a holding table and a grinding step of rotating a grinding wheel to turn grindstones along an annular track while rotating the holding table, and bringing the grindstones into grinding contact with an upper surface of the workpiece to thereby grind the workpiece. The grinding step includes the step of bringing the grindstones into grinding contact with the upper surface of the workpiece in a state where the annular track is closest to the holding surface in an area between a point above a center of the holding surface and a point above an outer circumferential end of the holding surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 11, 2020
    Publication date: June 24, 2021
    Inventor: Yujiro SUDO