Ebara Corporation

Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Toshiba Memory Corporation

Ryuichiro Mitani

Yoichi Kobayashi

Atsushi Shigeta

Koji Maruyama

Noburu Shimizu

Shunsuke Nakai

Shinro Ohta

Mitsunori Sugiyama

Akihiko Ogawa

A design method of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which can satisfy a specification required by a user is disclosed. The design method of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus includes creating a program setting file; creating a program installer from the program setting file; operating a processing unit of the semiconductor manufacturing apparatus; specifying a sensor corresponding to the processing unit based on the operation of the processing unit; creating a sensor setting file storing information obtained by specifying the sensor; comparing a content of a requirement specification and a content of the sensor setting file to confirm a consistency between the content of the requirement specification and the content of the sensor setting file; and introducing a program into a memory of a controller by the program installer when the content of the requirement specification and the content of the sensor setting file are consistent with each other.

Method of semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program of causing computer to execute design method of semiconductor manufacturing apparatus

A processing end point detection method detects a timing of a processing end point (e.g., polishing stop, changing of polishing conditions) by calculating a characteristic value of a surface of a workpiece (an object of polishing) such as a substrate. This method includes producing a spectral waveform indicating a relationship between reflection intensities and wavelengths at a processing end point, with use of a reference workpiece or simulation calculation, based on the spectral waveform, selecting wavelengths of a local maximum value and a local minimum value of the reflection intensities, calculating the characteristic value with respect to a surface, to be processed, from reflection intensities at the selected wavelengths, setting a distinctive point of time variation of the characteristic value at a processing end point of the workpiece as the processing end point, and detecting the processing end point of the workpiece by detecting the distinctive point during processing of the workpiece.

Processing end point detection method, polishing method, and polishing apparatus

A polished state monitoring apparatus capable of easily grasping the progress of polishing is provided. The polished state monitoring apparatus monitors the progress of polishing of a surface to be polished by obtaining a characteristic value indicating a state of the polished surface of an object at each sampling point every predetermined interval while scanning the surface. The apparatus includes light emitting means capable of emitting light for irradiating the surface and computing units for receiving light reflected from the surface to generate a characteristic value. Then, the apparatus fetches the characteristic values obtained from the sampling points at the same sampling timing during each scan and outputs the characteristic values. This enables the progress of the polishing to be monitored in accordance with the distance from the center of the surface.

Polished state monitoring apparatus and polishing apparatus using the same

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Tokyo, Japan

Ryuichiro Mitani