Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Other

Sharp Corporation

Tadahiro Ohmi

Tatsushi Yamamoto

Masaki Hirayama

Takamitsu Tadera

Tetsurou Muramatsu

Masaru Kadono

Kenji Ohta

Akira Takahashi

Tohru Okuda

Mitsuhiko Yoshikawa

Hideo Okada

Kumio Nago

Toshio Ishikawa

Masaji Tsuji

Akihito Yoshimoto

Naoko Yamamoto

Norio Kanetsuki

Toshiyuki Tanaka

Masaya Okamoto

Yuzo Mori

Shigeaki Kakiwaki

Tomoyuki Sagara

Tsuneo Nakamura

Renzaburou Miki

Yasuji Nakahama

Akira Sugiyama

Shuuhei Tsuchimoto

Masashi Michijima

Sigeaki Kakiwaki

Tersuro Muramatsu

Masatoshi Tomita

While periphery or peripheries of workpiece(s) W lifted in floating fashion by simultaneous suction and expulsion of gas(es) between pair(s) of first and second, or upper and lower, transport stagesis/are retained by plurality of elevator pins, respective transport stage(s) is/are inverted vertically and workpiece(s) is/are transferred from upper first transport stage(s) to lower second transport stage(s) such that workpiece(s) W is/are lifted in floating fashion thereabove by simultaneous suction and expulsion of gas(es) in accompaniment to lowering of respective elevator pin(s) at said first transport stage(s).

Workpiece transport apparatus

According to a plasma processing method, a process gas supplied into a process chamber is used to generate plasma from the process gas and process a substrate placed in the process chamber by means of the plasma. The substrate includes stacked films of at least two types to be etched by the plasma, and, according to any of the films that is to be etched, a change is made in the process gas in the plasma generation period. Accordingly, the time required for any process except for the main plasma process can be shortened so that the total time for the entire plasma process can be shortened to improve the processing speed.

Plasma processing method

On one side of a microwave entrance window that is exposed to the atmosphere, a slot plate having slots and a resonant unit are provided. The slot plate and the resonant unit are integrally placed to be slidable by linear guides with respect to a process chamber. In this way, a plasma processing apparatus can be provided that performs a highly uniform plasma process and is excellent in terms of plasma generation property.

Plasma processing apparatus

A slot antenna plate is placed on a second dielectric for radiating microwave into a chamber interior, the slot antenna plate being provided on a side of the second dielectric that faces the chamber interior. The slot antenna plate is made of conductor and includes slots for passing the microwave there through to the chamber interior. In this way, a plasma processing apparatus is provided generating plasma by microwave, the plasma processing apparatus capable of easily adjusting ion irradiation energy for a material to be processed to achieve uniform plasma processing for the material within the plane of the material.

It is an object of the invention to provide a backing plate used for the sputtering apparatus and a sputtering method which can improve film deposition rate and film quality without increasing the size of the target with respect to the substrate. High sputtering power is applied to a target portion opposite to a location where a thin film is formed on a surface of a substrate, thereby a thin film having even film thickness and film quality can be formed without increasing the size of the target. Further, a cooling medium flow passage can eliminate temperature unevenness caused by different sputtering powers to be applied to a target surface. The problem caused by the temperature rise can be solved and the film deposition speed can be enhanced by increasing the sputtering power which can be applied to the target. Consequently, it is possible to improve productivity of the substrate.

Backing plate used for sputtering apparatus and sputtering method

A plasma processing apparatus includes a slot plate having a slot-formed region for passing microwave from a waveguide to a microwave entrance window, and a slot plate drive unit driving the slot plate to change the position of the slot plate with respect to the microwave entrance window. The slot plate is thus moved with respect to the microwave entrance window to change at least one of the position, number and area of slot openings where the microwave is passed. The plasma processing apparatus accordingly ensures uniform plasma processing even if the process condition significantly changes when films on a large-area substrate or wafer to be processed are made of different materials or a stacked-layer film composed of layers of different materials is to be processed.

A plasma process apparatus includes a dielectric plate to emit plasma inside a chamber, and dielectric plate support members to support a dielectric plate. A plurality of gas introduction holes to supply reaction gas to the chamber interior are provided at the dielectric plate support members. The outlet of the gas introduction hole is open at the side facing the surface of substrate and arranged at a peripheral region outer than dielectric plate Ground potential is applied to a chamber lid and the dielectric plate support members, and bias voltage is applied to the substrate. Accordingly, a low-cost plasma process apparatus that can process uniformly a substrate of a large area using uniform plasma can be obtained.

Plasma process apparatus

A plurality of microwave introduction windows are placed at the top wall of the reaction chamber. Microwaves of the same power are introduced into, e.g., two microwave introduction windows that are equivalent in location relationship with respect to the sidewall of the reaction chamber, while microwaves of different power are introduced into, e.g., two microwave introduction windows that are non-equivalent in location relationship with respect to the sidewall. Thus, a cost-effective plasma process apparatus is obtained which can realize uniform plasma processing even if the plasma being generated within the reaction chamber has varied load impedance.

A method for depositing a functionally gradient thin film of the present invention includes the steps of: introducing two or more types of material gases into a process chamber which includes a cylindrical rotary electrode provided so as to be opposed to a substrate on which a thin film is deposited, the cylindrical rotary electrode being rotated by applying a high-frequency power thereto; and sliding the substrate into the process chamber while maintaining the rotation of the cylindrical rotary electrode so as to create plasma between the cylindrical rotary electrode arid the substrate for depositing the thin film.

Method for depositing functionally gradient thin film

A plasma process apparatus capable of preventing generation of plasma in an unwanted location and performing uniform plasma processing with stability is obtained. The plasma process apparatus includes a processing chamber having an internal wall surface; a microwave radiating member having one wall surface and the other wall surface that faces the internal wall surface of the processing chamber, and being disposed such that a space is formed between the other wall surface and a portion of the internal wall surface, and propagating and radiating microwaves within the processing chamber; and a reactive gas supply member, including a reactive gas supply passage having a space formed between the other wall surface of the microwave radiating member and the internal wall surface; and a microwave transmission preventing member disposed on a region, which faces the reactive gas supply passage, of the other wall surface of the microwave radiating member.

A plasma process device capable of forming homogeneous plasma and coping with a large size substrate less costly can be obtained. The plasma process device includes a processing chamber, microwave guiding means, a shower plate and a reaction gas supply passage. The microwave guiding means guides a microwave into the processing chamber. The shower plate has a gas inlet hole to supply to the processing chamber a reaction gas attaining a plasma state by the microwave, and a lower surface facing the processing chamber and an upper surface positioned on the opposite side of the lower surface. The reaction gas supply passage is positioned on the upper surface of the shower plate and supplies the reaction gas to the gas inlet hole. A wall surface of the reaction gas supply passage includes an upper surface of the shower plate and a conductor wall surface opposing the upper surface.

Plasma process device

A plasma process device capable of forming homogeneous plasma and coping with a large size substrate less costly can be obtained. The plasma process device includes a processing chamber, microwave guiding device, a shower plate and a reaction gas supply passage. The microwave guiding device guides a microwave into the processing chamber. The shower plate has a gas inlet hole to supply to the processing chamber a reaction gas attaining a plasma state by the microwave, and a lower surface facing the processing chamber and an upper surface positioned on the opposite side of the lower surface. The reaction gas supply passage is a positioned on the upper surface of the shower plate and supplies the reaction gas to the gas inlet hole. A wall surface of the reaction gas supply passage includes an upper surface of the shower plate and a conductor wall surface opposing the upper surface.

A method of adjusting position of a member including an adjustable portion made of material having shape memory effect, comprising the steps of: (a) heat-treating for shape memory the member in a first shape such that the first shape is memorized in the adjustable portion; (b) plastically deforming the adjustable portion to a second shape after cooling the adjustable portion to less than a shape recovery temperature; and (c) locally heating the adjustable portion to more than the shape recovery temperature so as to subject the adjustable portion to local shape recovery.

Positionally adjustable member and applications therefor

A magnetic head has a magnetic core structured so that soft magnetic thin films and insulating thin films are stacked alternately. In each layer of the soft magnetic thin films, the thickness of the vicinity of a gap portion is made smaller than that of the other portions. According to this structure, it is possible to decrease a magnetic reluctance of the magnetic core. Such magnetic core is formed by repeating, to a substrate having a plurality of grooves formed thereon, the step of forming a thin film by using self-shadowing effects of a peak portion of the groove and the step of applying an anisotropic etching process.

Growing community of inventors

Ikoma-gun, Japan

Tatsushi Yamamoto