Patents by Inventor Yukio Inazuki

Yukio Inazuki 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: 20130230796
    Abstract: In the chromium-containing material film of the present invention, an element is added thereto and is capable of bringing a mixture of the element and the chromium into a liquid phase at a temperature of 400° C. or lower. The use of such a chromium-containing material film as an optical film (e.g., a light-shielding film, an etching mask film, or an etching stopper film) of a photo mask blank can achieve an improvement in chlorine-dry etching while retaining the same optical characteristics and the like as those of the conventional chromium-containing material film, thereby increasing the patterning precision.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2011
    Publication date: September 5, 2013
    Applicant: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroki Yoshikawa, Souichi Fukaya, Yukio Inazuki, Tsuneo Yamamoto, Hideo Nakagawa
  • Patent number: 8475978
    Abstract: A photomask blank has a film of a transition metal/silicon base material comprising a transition metal, silicon, oxygen and nitrogen, having an oxygen content of at least 3 atom %, and satisfying the formula: 4×CSi/100?6×CM/100>1 wherein CSi is a silicon content in atom % and CM is a transition metal content in atom %.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignees: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroki Yoshikawa, Yukio Inazuki, Ryuji Koitabashi, Hideo Kaneko, Takashi Haraguchi, Yosuke Kojima, Tomohito Hirose
  • Patent number: 8417018
    Abstract: A photomask blank having a film on a substrate is inspected by (A) measuring a surface topography of a photomask blank having a film to be inspected for stress, (B) removing the film from the photomask blank to provide a treated substrate, (C) measuring a surface topography of the treated substrate, and (D) comparing the surface topography of the photomask blank with the surface topography of the treated substrate, thereby evaluating a stress in the film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2013
    Assignee: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukio Inazuki, Hideo Kaneko, Hiroki Yoshikawa
  • Publication number: 20130059235
    Abstract: In a photomask blank comprising a transparent substrate, an optical film of material containing a transition metal and silicon, and a hard mask film, the hard mask film is a multilayer film including a first layer of a chromium-based material containing 20-60 atom % of oxygen and a second layer of a chromium-based material containing at least 50 atom % of chromium and less than 20 atom % of oxygen. The hard mask film having a thickness of 2.0 nm to less than 10 nm is resistant to fluorine dry etching.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 21, 2012
    Publication date: March 7, 2013
    Inventors: Yukio INAZUKI, Shinichi IGARASHI, Kazuhiro NISHIKAWA, Hiroki YOSHIKAWA
  • Patent number: 8309277
    Abstract: A photomask is manufactured from a photomask blank comprising a transparent substrate and a light-shielding film consisting of upper and lower layers of transition metal-containing silicon base materials, the content of O+N in the upper layer being higher than that of the lower layer. The light-shielding film is processed in two steps by fluorine dry etching through a resist pattern such that a lower portion of the film is left behind, and oxygen-containing chlorine dry etching for removing the remainder of the film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 13, 2012
    Assignee: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinichi Igarashi, Yukio Inazuki, Hideo Kaneko, Hiroki Yoshikawa, Yoshinori Kinase
  • Patent number: 8304146
    Abstract: A photomask is manufactured by providing a photomask blank comprising a transparent substrate, a phase shift film, and a light-shielding film, the phase shift film and the light-shielding film including silicon base material layers, a N+O content in the silicon base material layer of the phase shift film differing from that of the light-shielding film, and chlorine dry etching the blank with oxygen-containing chlorine gas in a selected O/Cl ratio for selectively etching away the silicon base material layer of the light-shielding film.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinichi Igarashi, Hideo Kaneko, Yukio Inazuki, Kazuhiro Nishikawa
  • Publication number: 20120251930
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a photomask blank wherein a second film is stacked on a first film, the first film containing chromium and which is not substantially etched by the dry etching using fluorine and which is etchable by the dry etching using oxygen-containing chlorine, and the second film containing no chromium and which is etchable by dry etching using fluorine and dry etching using oxygen-containing chlorine.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 12, 2012
    Publication date: October 4, 2012
    Applicants: SHIN-ETSU CHEMICAL CO., LTD., TOPPAN PRINTING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Yosuke Kojima, Hiroki Yoshikawa, Yukio Inazuki, Ryuji Koitabashi
  • Patent number: 8168351
    Abstract: A photomask blank which is manufactured by depositing a phase shift film on a substrate and irradiating the phase shift film with high-energy radiation to effect substrate shape adjusting treatment is inspected by measuring a surface topography of the photomask blank after the substrate shape adjusting treatment, removing the phase shift film from the photomask blank, measuring a surface topography of the treated substrate after removal of the phase shift film, and comparing the surface topographies, thereby evaluating a warpage change before and after removal of the phase shift film, due to a stress of the phase shift film having undergone substrate shape adjusting treatment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukio Inazuki, Hideo Kaneko, Hiroki Yoshikawa
  • Patent number: 8148036
    Abstract: A photomask blank comprises a transparent substrate, a light-shielding film of an optionally transition metal-containing silicon material, and an etching mask film of a chromium compound base material. The etching mask film consists of multiple layers of different composition which are deposited by reactive sputtering, the multiple layers including, in combination, a first layer of a material which imparts a compression stress when deposited on the substrate as a single composition layer and a second layer of a material which imparts a tensile stress when deposited on the substrate as a single composition layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yukio Inazuki, Hideo Kaneko, Hiroki Yoshikawa
  • Publication number: 20120064438
    Abstract: A photomask blank has a film of a transition metal/silicon base material comprising a transition metal, silicon, oxygen and nitrogen, having an oxygen content of at least 3 atom %, and satisfying the formula: 4×CSi/100?6×CM/100>1 wherein CSi is a silicon content in atom % and CM is a transition metal content in atom %.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2011
    Publication date: March 15, 2012
    Inventors: Hiroki YOSHIKAWA, Yukio Inazuki, Ryuji Koitabashi, Hideo Kaneko, Takashi Haraguchi, Yosuke Kojima, Tomohito Hirose
  • Publication number: 20120034551
    Abstract: A binary photomask blank has on a transparent substrate a light-shielding film including substrate-side and surface-side compositionally graded layers, having a thickness of 35-60 nm, and composed of a silicon base material containing a transition metal and N and/or O. The substrate-side compositionally graded layer has a thickness of 10-58.5 nm, and a N+O content of 25-40 at % at its lower surface and 10-23 at % at its upper surface. The surface-side compositionally graded layer has a thickness of 1.5-8 nm, and a N+O content of 10-45 at % at its lower surface and 45-55 at % at its upper surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2011
    Publication date: February 9, 2012
    Inventors: Hiroki Yoshikawa, Yukio Inazuki, Kazuhiro Nishikawa, Hideo Kaneko
  • Patent number: 8012654
    Abstract: A photomask blank is provided comprising an etch stop film which is disposed on a transparent substrate and is resistant to fluorine dry etching and removable by chlorine dry etching, a light-shielding film disposed on the etch stop film and including at least one layer composed of a transition metal/silicon material, and an antireflective film disposed on the light-shielding film. When the light-shielding film is dry etched to form a pattern, pattern size variation arising from pattern density dependency is reduced, so that a photomask is produced at a high accuracy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2011
    Assignees: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroki Yoshikawa, Yukio Inazuki, Satoshi Okazaki, Takashi Haraguchi, Tadashi Saga, Yosuke Kojima, Kazuaki Chiba, Yuichi Fukushima
  • Patent number: 8007964
    Abstract: A photomask blank to be used as a material for a photomask is provided with a mask pattern having a transparent area and an effectively opaque area to exposure light on a transparent substrate. On the transparent board, one or more layers of light shielding films are formed with or without other film (A) in between, at least one layer (B) which constitutes the light shielding film includes silicon and a transition metal as main component, and a molar ratio of silicon to the transition metal is silicon:metal=4-15:1 (atomic ratio). The photomask provided with the mask pattern having the transparent area and the effectively opaque area to exposure light on the transparent board is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 30, 2011
    Assignees: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroki Yoshikawa, Yukio Inazuki, Satoshi Okazaki, Takashi Haraguchi, Masahide Iwakata, Mikio Takagi, Yuichi Fukushima, Tadashi Saga
  • Patent number: 8003284
    Abstract: A photomask blank is provided comprising an etch stop film which is disposed on a transparent substrate and is resistant to fluorine dry etching and removable by chlorine dry etching, a light-shielding film disposed on the etch stop film and including at least one layer composed of a transition metal/silicon material, and an antireflective film disposed on the light-shielding film. When the light-shielding film is dry etched to form a pattern, pattern size variation arising from pattern density dependency is reduced, so that a photomask is produced at a high accuracy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignees: Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd., Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroki Yoshikawa, Yukio Inazuki, Satoshi Okazaki, Takashi Haraguchi, Tadashi Saga, Yosuke Kojima, Kazuaki Chiba, Yuichi Fukushima
  • Patent number: 7989124
    Abstract: A photomask blank comprises a transparent substrate, a light-shielding film deposited on the substrate and comprising a metal or metal compound susceptible to fluorine dry etching, and an etching mask film deposited on the light-shielding film and comprising another metal or metal compound resistant to fluorine dry etching. When the light-shielding film is dry etched to form a pattern, pattern size variation arising from pattern density dependency is reduced, so that a photomask is produced at a high accuracy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignees: Toppan Printing Co., Ltd., Shin-Etsu Chemical Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroki Yoshikawa, Yukio Inazuki, Satoshi Okazaki, Takashi Haraguchi, Tadashi Saga, Yosuke Kojima, Kazuaki Chiba, Yuichi Fukushima
  • Publication number: 20100316942
    Abstract: A photomask is manufactured from a photomask blank comprising a transparent substrate and a light-shielding film consisting of upper and lower layers of transition metal-containing silicon base materials, the content of O+N in the upper layer being higher than that of the lower layer. The light-shielding film is processed in two steps by fluorine dry etching through a resist pattern such that a lower portion of the film is left behind, and oxygen-containing chlorine dry etching for removing the remainder of the film.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2010
    Publication date: December 16, 2010
    Inventors: Shinichi IGARASHI, Yukio INAZUKI, Hideo KANEKO, Hiroki YOSHIKAWA, Yoshinori KINASE
  • Publication number: 20100291478
    Abstract: Disclosed herein is a dry etching method for a work layer formed over a substrate, including the steps of forming a hard mask layer over the work layer formed over the substrate, forming a resist pattern over the hard mask layer, transferring the resist pattern to the hard mask layer by first dry etching conducted using the resist pattern, and patterning the work layer by second dry etching conducted using a hard mask pattern obtained upon the transfer to the hard mask layer, wherein after the hard mask layer is patterned by the first dry etching, the patterning of the work layer by the second dry etching is conducted through changing the concentration of an auxiliary ingredient of a dry etching gas, without changing a main ingredient of the dry etching gas, in an etching apparatus in which the first dry etching has been conducted.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 14, 2010
    Publication date: November 18, 2010
    Inventors: Shinichi IGARASHI, Yukio Inazuki, Hideo Kaneko, Hiroki Yoshikawa, Yoshinori Kinase
  • Publication number: 20100261101
    Abstract: A photomask blank is provided comprising an etch stop film which is disposed on a transparent substrate and is resistant to fluorine dry etching and removable by chlorine dry etching, a light-shielding film disposed on the etch stop film and including at least one layer composed of a transition metal/silicon material, and an antireflective film disposed on the light-shielding film. When the light-shielding film is dry etched to form a pattern, pattern size variation arising from pattern density dependency is reduced, so that a photomask is produced at a high accuracy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2010
    Publication date: October 14, 2010
    Inventors: Hiroki Yoshikawa, Yukio Inazuki, Satoshi Okazaki, Takashi Haraguchi, Tadashi Saga, Yosuke Kojima, Kazuaki Chiba, Yuichi Fukushima
  • Publication number: 20100261099
    Abstract: A photomask blank comprises a transparent substrate, a light-shielding film deposited on the substrate and comprising a metal or metal compound susceptible to fluorine dry etching, and an etching mask film deposited on the light-shielding film and comprising another metal or metal compound resistant to fluorine dry etching. When the light-shielding film is dry etched to form a pattern, pattern size variation arising from pattern density dependency is reduced, so that a photomask is produced at a high accuracy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2010
    Publication date: October 14, 2010
    Inventors: Hiroki Yoshikawa, Yukio Inazuki, Satoshi Okazaki, Takashi Haraguchi, Tadashi Saga, Yosuke Kojima, Kazuaki Chiba, Yuichi Fukushima
  • Publication number: 20100261100
    Abstract: A photomask blank is provided comprising an etch stop film which is disposed on a transparent substrate and is resistant to fluorine dry etching and removable by chlorine dry etching, a light-shielding film disposed on the etch stop film and including at least one layer composed of a transition metal/silicon material, and an antireflective film disposed on the light-shielding film. When the light-shielding film is dry etched to form a pattern, pattern size variation arising from pattern density dependency is reduced, so that a photomask is produced at a high accuracy.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2010
    Publication date: October 14, 2010
    Inventors: Hiroki YOSHIKAWA, Yukio Inazuki, Satoshi Okazaki, Takashi Haraguchi, Tadashi Saga, Yosuke Kojima, Kazuaki Chiba, Yuichi Fukushima