Ebara Corporation

Tohoku University

Ebara Research Co., Ltd.

Other

National Aerospace Laboratory

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Hirokuni Hiyama

Yutaka Wada

Kazuto Hirokawa

Hisanori Matsuo

Katsunori Ichiki

Seiji Samukawa

Kazuo Yamauchi

Tetsuji Togawa

Norio Kimura

Akira Fukuda

Yoshihiro Mochizuki

Manabu Tsujimura

Tamami Takahashi

Katsuhide Watanabe

Kunihiko Sakurai

Seiji Ishikawa

Masayoshi Hirose

Akira Ogata

Yoshimi Sasaki

Katsuya Okumura

Hiroyuki Yano

Atsushi Nakajima

Yu Ishii

Yoichi Shiokawa

Chikara Murakami

Akio Shibata

Takayuki Saito

Itsuki Kobata

Noburu Shimizu

Tadashi Kataoka

Satoshi Wakabayashi

Yasushi Toma

Tsukuru Suzuki

Toshiro Maekawa

Kiyotaka Kawashima

Takayoshi Kawamoto

Tomoyuki Yahiro

Satoshi Inanaga

Kazuyoshi Yamamoto

Akira Kodera

Hisamitsu Miyazaki

Seiyo Maekawa

Hiroyuki Hashimoto

A method dresses a polishing member with a diamond dresser having diamond particles arranged on a surface thereof. The method includes determining dressing conditions by performing a simulation of a distribution of a sliding distance of the diamond dresser on a surface of the polishing member, and dressing the polishing member with the diamond dresser under the determined dressing conditions. The simulation includes calculating the sliding distance corrected in accordance with a depth of the diamond particles thrusting into the polishing member.

Dressing method, method of determining dressing conditions, program for determining dressing conditions, and polishing apparatus

An electrolytic processing apparatus can increase the efficiency of the dissociation reaction of water and efficiently perform electrolytic processing, and can eliminate the need for an operation of a change of ion exchanger. The electrolytic processing apparatus includes: a processing electrode and a feeding electrode; a liquid supply section for supplying a liquid containing an ion-exchange material between the workpiece and at least one of the processing electrode and the feeding electrode; a power source for applying a voltage between the processing electrode and the feeding electrode; and a drive section for moving the workpiece and at least one of the processing electrode and the feeding electrode relative to each other; wherein electrolytic processing of the workpiece is carried out while keeping the workpiece not in contact with but close to the processing electrode at a distance of not more than 10 &#x3bc;m.

Electrolytic processing apparatus and electrolytic processing method

A polishing method can automatically reset polishing conditions according to a state of a polishing member based on data on a polishing profile changing with time, thereby extending life of the polishing member and obtaining flatness of a polished surface with higher accuracy. The polishing method, includes steps of: independently applying a desired pressure by each of pressing portions of a top ring on a polishing object; estimating a polishing profile of the polishing object based on set pressure values, and calculating a recommended polishing pressure value so that a difference between the polishing profile of the polishing object after it is polished under certain polishing conditions and a desired polishing profile becomes smaller; and polishing the polishing object with the recommended polishing pressure value.

Method for estimating polishing profile or polishing amount, polishing method and polishing apparatus

An etching apparatus comprises a workpiece holder () for holding a workpiece (X), a plasma generator () for generating a plasma () in a vacuum chamber (), an orifice electrode () disposed between the workpiece holder () and the plasma generator (), and a grid electrode () disposed upstream of the orifice electrode () in the vacuum chamber (). The orifice electrode () has orifices () defined therein. The etching apparatus further comprises a voltage applying unit () for applying a voltage between the orifice electrode () and the grid electrode () to accelerate ions from the plasma () generated by the plasma generator () and to pass the extracted ions through the orifices () in the orifice electrode (), for generating a collimated neutral particle beam having an energy ranging from 10 eV to 50 eV.

Etching method and apparatus

A method of polishing substrates enables the size of a polishing table to be reduced. A surface of a substrate to be polished is brought into contact with a polishing surface of a polishing table in such a manner that a portion of the surface of the substrate extends outwardly from an outer periphery of the polishing surface. The substrate is rotated about its center axis while keeping its surface in contact with the polishing surface of the polishing table. The attitude of the substrate carrier is controlled so that the surface of the substrate is kept parallel with the polishing surface of the polishing table during a polishing operation.

Apparatus for polishing a substrate

A method is suitable for cleaning substrates, after polishing, that require a high degree of cleanliness, such as semiconductor wafers, glass substrates, or liquid crystal displays. The method includes polishing a substrate using an abrasive liquid containing abrasive particles, and cleaning a polished surface of the substrate by supplying a cleaning liquid having substantially the same pH as the abrasive liquid or similar pH to the abrasive liquid so that a pH of the abrasive liquid attached to the polished surface of the substrate is not rapidly changed.

Cleaning method and polishing apparatus employing such cleaning method

An etching apparatus comprises a workpiece holder () for holding a workpiece (X), a plasma generator () for generating a plasma () in a vacuum chamber (), an orifice electrode () disposed between the workpiece holder () and the plasma generator (), and a grid electrode () disposed upstream of the orifice electrode () in the vacuum chamber (). The orifice electrode () has orifices () defined therein. The etching apparatus further comprises a voltage applying unit () for applying a voltage between the orifice electrode () and the grid electrode () to accelerate ions from the plasma () generated by the plasma generator () and to pass the extracted ions through the orifices () in the orifice electrode (). A first collimated neutral particle beam is generated and applied to the workpiece (X) for etching a surface of a processing layer () of the workpiece (X). A second collimated neutral particle beam is generated, and a mask () for covering at least a portion of the surface of the processing layer () is sputtered by the second neutral particle beam to form a protecting film () on a sidewall () of the processing layer () for protecting the sidewall () of the processing layer () from being etched by the first neutral particle beam.

A polishing apparatus includes a turntable with an abrasive cloth mounted on an upper surface thereof, and a top ring disposed above the turntable for supporting a workpiece to be polished and pressing the workpiece against the abrasive cloth under a predetermined pressure. The turntable and the top ring are movable relatively to each other to polish a surface of the workpiece supported by the top ring with the abrasive cloth. The abrasive cloth has a projecting region on a surface thereof for more intensive contact with the workpiece than other surface regions of the abrasive cloth. The projecting region has a smaller dimension in a radial direction of the turntable than a diameter of the workpiece when the projecting region is held in contact with the workpiece. A position of the projection region is determined on the basis of an area in which the projecting region acts on the workpiece.

Polishing apparatus including turntable with polishing surface of different heights

A beam source has a plasma generating chamber, an antenna for generating plasma in the plasma generating chamber, a first electrode disposed in the plasma generating chamber, and a second electrode disposed in the plasma generating chamber. Both of the antenna and the second electrode face the first electrode. The beam source also includes a power supply for applying a voltage between the first electrode and the second electrode to extract particles from the plasma generated by the antenna. The beam source applies various kinds of beams having a large diameter, such as a positive ion beam, a negative ion beam, and a neutral particle beam, uniformly to a workpiece.

Beam source and beam processing apparatus

A beam source has a plasma generating chamber and a gas inlet port for introducing a gas into the plasma generating chamber. The beam source includes a plasma generator for generating positive-negative ion plasma containing positive ions at a density of at least 10ions/cmand negative ions from the gas. The beam source also includes a plasma potential adjustment electrode disposed in the plasma generating chamber and a grid electrode having a plurality of beam extraction holes formed therein. The beam extraction holes have a diameter of at least 0.5 mm. The beam source has a first power supply for applying a voltage of at most 500 V between the plasma potential adjustment electrode and the grid electrode.

An abrading plate has a self-stopping capability such that when an object, such as a semiconductor wafer having a device structure that includes raised regions and depressed regions fabricated on the surface, is being polished, the raised regions are removed and polishing stops automatically. The abrading plate, to produce a flat and mirror polished surface on the an object, has abrasive particles having a chemical purity of not less than 90% and a particle size of not more than two micrometers, a binder material, and a given volume of porosity. A ratio of the abrasive particles and the binder material is not less than 1:0.5 by volume, and proportions of abrasive particles, a binder material and porosity are, respectively, not less than 10%, not more than 60% and 10-40% by volume. A surface is polished for a given duration with a liquid not containing abrasive particles so as to eliminate the raised regions and to obtain a flat surface. Additional surface removal is performed by supplying abrasive particles to the polishing interface to remove surface material uniformly from the entire surface.

Polishing method using an abrading plate

A plasma generator generates positive ions and negative ions in a plasma. An ion extracting portion () selectively extracts the generated positive ions and negative ions from the plasma, and accelerates the extracted ions in a predetermined direction. The positive ions and the negative ions are selectively applied to the workpiece (X). The plasma generator applies a high-frequency voltage to a process gas in a vacuum chamber for generating a plasma which is composed of positive ions and electrons from the process gas, and interrupts the high-frequency voltage for attaching the electrons to the residual process gas to generate negative ions. The application of the high-frequency voltage and the interruption of the high-frequency voltage are alternately repeated.

Method of processing a surface of a workpiece

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Hirokuni Hiyama