Nikon Corporation

Hidehiro Maeda

Isao Sugaya

Minoru Fukuda

Hajime Mitsuishi

Kazuya Okamoto

Yasuaki Tanaka

Masaki Tsunoda

Masahiro Yoshihashi

Ikuhiro Kuwano

Satoshi Katagiri

Atsushi Kamashita

Masashi Okada

Junichi Chonan

Tomoyuki Yasuda

A substrate holder includes a central support portion configured to support a central portion of a substrate, and an circumferential support portion arranged on an outside of the central support portion and configured to support a circumferential portion on an outside of the central portion, and the circumferential support portion is configured to support the circumferential portion so that at least a partial region of the circumferential portion is curved toward the substrate holder with a curvature greater than that of the central portion.

Substrate bonding apparatus and substrate bonding method

A method for bonding a first substrate and a second substrate includes: forming a protrusion at a partial region of the first substrate; measuring a position of the first substrate after the protrusion is formed in the first substrate; and bonding the first substrate and the second substrate by contacting the protrusion of the first substrate with a surface of the second substrate to form a contact region and enlarging the contact region.

Bonding method, bonding device, and holding member

Provided is a substrate holding unit that holds a pair of substrates that are aligned and layered, comprising a first holding member that holds one of the substrates; a plurality of members to be joined that are connected to the first holding member; a second holding member that holds the other of the substrates to face the one of the substrates; a plurality of joining members that exert an adhesion force on the members to be joined and are connected to the second holding member at positions corresponding to positions of the members to be joined; and an adhesion restricting section that restricts the adhesion force until the substrates are aligned.

Multi-layered substrate manufacturing method

A substrate holder is reliably transported in a state of holding a substrate. There is provided a substrate holder for holding a substrate by means of electrostatic force generated by power supplied from an external source. The substrate holder is to be transported in a state of holding the substrate. The substrate holder includes a holder body that is to have the substrate placed thereon, and a connector terminal that is externally exposed through the holder body, where the connector terminal is attachable to and detachable from an external power supply terminal. There is also provided a substrate transport apparatus for transporting a substrate holder holding a substrate by means of electrostatic force generated by power supplied from an external source. The substrate transport apparatus includes a placement section that has a placement surface on which the substrate holder is placed, where the placement section holds the substrate holder, and a power supply terminal that supplies power to the substrate holder placed on the placement surface.

Substrate holder, substrate holder unit, substrate transport apparatus, and substrate bonding apparatus

Provided is a substrate holder system comprising a first substrate holder that holds a first substrate; an engaging member provided on the first substrate holder; a second substrate holder that holds a second substrate and can, together with the first substrate holder, sandwich the first substrate and the second substrate; an engagement receiving member that is provided on the second substrate holder and engages with the engaging member; and a dust restricting means for restricting generation of dust caused by the engagement of the engaging member and the engagement receiving member.

Substrate holder system, substrate holder, fastening mechanism, substrate bonding apparatus and method for manufacturing devices

Substrate bonding apparatus

Provided is a transport method comprising judging whether there is a possibility that misalignment greater than or equal to a threshold value occurs between substrates to be layered that are held by a pair of substrate holders aligned and stacked by an aligning section, the misalignment occurring when the pair of substrate holders is transported from the aligning section to a pressure applying section; and if the judgment indicates that there is the possibility of misalignment, transporting the pair of substrate holders to a region other than the pressure applying section. Whether there is the possibility of misalignment may be judged based on at least one of an acceleration of the substrate holders, an acceleration of a transporting section that transports the substrate holders, relative positions of the substrate holders, or relative positions of the transporting section and one of the pair of substrate holders.

Transport method and transport apparatus

Provided is a transport method comprising judging whether there is a possibility that misalignment greater than or equal to a threshold value occurs between substrates to be layered that are held by a pair of substrate holders aligned and stacked by an aligning section, the misalignment occurring when the pair of substrate holders is transported from the aligning section to a pressure applying section; and if the judgment indicates that there is the possibility of misalignment, transporting the pair of substrate holders to a region other than the pressure applying section. Whether there is the possibility of misalignment may be judged based on acceleration of the substrate holders. Whether there is the possibility of misalignment may be judged based on acceleration of a transporting section that transports the substrate holders. Whether there is the possibility of misalignment may be judged based on relative positions of the substrate holders. Whether there is the possibility of misalignment may be judged based on relative positions of (i) a transporting section that transports the pair of substrate holders and (ii) one of the pair of substrate holders.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Hidehiro Maeda