Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha Corporation

Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.

Nara Institute of Science and Technology

Kabushiki Kaisha Sharp

Yusuke Fukuoka

Katsushi Kishimoto

Katsuhiko Nomoto

Yasushi Fujioka

Hiroyuki Fukuda

Masahide Nakamura

Jun Hayashi

Noriyoshi Kohama

Takaaki Horibuchi

Yoshinobu Kimura

Mitsuharu Ozawa

Yusuke Ozaki

In a chamber of a plasma processing apparatus, a cathode electrode and an anode electrode are disposed at a distance from each other. The cathode electrode is supplied with electric power from an electric power supply portion. The anode electrode is electrically grounded and a substrate is placed thereon. The anode electrode contains a heater. In an upper wall portion of the chamber, an exhaust port is provided and connected to a vacuum pump through an exhaust pipe. In a lower wall portion of a wall surface of the chamber, a gas introduction port is provided. A gas supply portion is provided outside the chamber.

Plasma processing apparatus with an exhaust port above the substrate

Provided are a semiconductor layer manufacturing method and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus capable of forming a high quality semiconductor layer even by a single chamber system, with a shortened process time required for reducing a concentration of impurities that exist in a reaction chamber before forming the semiconductor layer. A semiconductor device manufactured using such a method and apparatus is also provided. The present invention relates to a semiconductor layer manufacturing method of forming a semiconductor layer inside a reaction chamber () capable of being hermetically sealed, including an impurities removing step of removing impurities inside the reaction chamber () using a replacement gas, and a semiconductor layer forming step of forming the semiconductor layer, the impurities removing step being a step in which a cycle composed of a replacement gas introducing step of introducing the replacement gas into the reaction chamber () and an exhausting step of exhausting the replacement gas is repeated a plurality of times, the impurities removing step being performed at least before the semiconductor layer forming step.

Semiconductor layer manufacturing method, semiconductor layer manufacturing apparatus, and semiconductor device manufactured using such method and apparatus

A gateway device includes a base processor which converts a signal input from an IP network to a signal which can be handled by the gateway device, and a home appliance control processor having a controller which converts the signal which can be handled by the gateway device to a control signal in compliance with the communications protocol of a home appliance to be controlled. The controller stores, on a table, information about the communications protocol, driver, controllable setting condition and status of respective appliances to be controlled in association with each other. The controller also includes a conversion functional block which converts information supplied to the control information of the communications protocol of the respective appliances to be controlled on the basis of the stored information.

Gateway device allowing home network appliances to be introduced and controlled over a network and a control method therefor

A substrate transfer apparatus comprising: a plurality of floating-transfer guide plates adjacent to each other, each of guide plates having a plurality of floating gas ejecting holes; a gas supplying source; a tray to mount a substrate to be transferred, and that is floated by the floating gas; and a transfer arm for transferring the floated tray from the guide plate to the adjacent other guide plate, wherein the tray includes both side edges, and a contact/engagement portion formed at the respective both side edges for the transfer arm, each of the transfer arms including a base portion that can horizontally reciprocate along a rail provided so as to be parallel to the transfer direction, a guide portion provided to the base portion, that can horizontally reciprocate in a direction orthogonal to the transfer direction, and an arm portion provided to the guide portion, that can horizontally reciprocate in the direction parallel to the transfer direction.

Substrate transfer apparatus and substrate transfer method

There is provided a plasma processing device capable of forming a film in a favorable manner irrespective of deflection generated in an anode electrode and a cathode electrode in the case where an area of the electrodes is increased. A plasma processing deviceincludes a chamber, a gas introducing portion, an exhaust unit, and a high-frequency power supply unit. In the chamber, there are provided an anode electrode (first electrode)having a flat-plate shape, a cathode electrode (second electrode)having a flat-plate shape, and first supporting membersand second supporting membersfor slidably supporting the two electrodesandin parallel with each other. The cathode electrodeis provided so as to face the anode electrode. The anode electrodeand the cathode electrodeare not fixed with screws or the like but are merely placed on the first supporting membersand the second supporting members. In the anode electrodeand the cathode electrode, deflection amounts when they are freely deflected under their own weights are equal to each other, and maximum deflection amounts of the two electrodesandare also equal to each other.

Plasma processing apparatus and plasma processing method

A plasma processing apparatus of this invention includes a sealable chamber, a gas supply source of reactive material gas, placed outside the chamber, a gas introduction pipe connected to the gas supply source, for introducing the material gas into the chamber, and a plurality of sets of cathode-anode bodies for forming a plurality of discharge spaces which perform plasma discharge of the material gas in the chamber. Herein, the gas introduction pipe includes a gas branch section arranged in the chamber, a main pipe for connecting the gas supply source to the gas branch section, and a plurality of branch pipes connected from the main pipe to each of the discharge spaces via the gas branch section. The branch pipes are configured so that conductances thereof are substantially equivalent to each other.

Plasma processing apparatus and semiconductor device manufactured by the same apparatus

A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising: a plurality of vacuum chambers corresponding to a plurality of processing sections necessary for manufacturing a semiconductor device; an exhaust device connected to each vacuum chamber; a plate shaped guide plate arranged at the bottom of each vacuum chamber and having a plurality of gas emission holes; and a gas supply source for supplying gas to the gas emission holes, wherein the plurality of vacuum chambers are adjacent to each other by way of a shutter, one of the two adjacent vacuum chambers includes a tray mounted on the guide plate for mounting a substrate to be performed with a predetermined process, a conveying function section having a conveying arm for moving the tray from one vacuum chamber to the other vacuum chamber along the guide plate, and a controlling function section, the controlling function section performing the control so as to open the shutter to communicate the two adjacent vacuum chambers, emit gas from the gas emission holes of the guide plate of the vacuum chambers, and move the tray in one vacuum chamber, which is floated by the emitted gas, from the guide plate of one vacuum chamber to the guide plate of the other vacuum chamber along the guide plate by means of the conveying arm.

Semiconductor manufacturing apparatus and semiconductor manufacturing method using the same

A semiconductor device manufacturing unit is provided, wherein a cathode and an anode can be placed in a simple structure; wherein excellent film deposition and film thickness distribution can be gained; and wherein no cooling devices are required to be provided. A chamberis formed so that the inside thereof can be controlled at a vacuum of an arbitrary degree. Anode supportsfor supporting an anodeare placed at the bottom of the internal structure. The anodeis made of a material having a high electrical conductivity and a high heat resistance. The temperature of the anodeis controlled by a heaterso as to be in a range of from room temperature to 600&#xb0; C. A cathodeis placed on a cathode supportso as to face the anode. The cathode supportis attached to an internal structuremade of a frame in a rectangular prism form provided within the chamber

Semiconductor device manufacturing unit and semiconductor device manufacturing method

A plasma processing apparatus of this invention includes a sealable chamber to be introduced with reactive material gas, a plurality of pairs of cathode-anode bodies arranged in the chamber, for forming a plurality of discharge spaces for performing plasma discharge of the material gas, a power supply for plasma discharge, placed outside the chamber, a matching box placed outside the chamber, for matching impedance between the cathode-anode bodies and the power supply, and a power introduction wire extending to each of the cathodes from the power supply via the matching box. Herein, the power introduction wire is branched to the number corresponding to the number of the cathodes between the matching box and the cathodes, and the branched wires are symmetrically extended.

A thin film formation apparatus for forming a thin film on a substrate is provided, which comprises: a reaction chamber; a gas introduction section for introducing a reactant gas into the reaction chamber; an evacuation section for exhausting the reactant gas from the reaction chamber; first and second planar electrodes provided in the reaction chamber; first and second support members which respectively support the first and second electrodes in parallel relation; a high frequency power source for applying high frequency power between the first and second electrodes; and a heating section for heating one of the first and second electrodes; wherein the substrate is placed on the heated electrode, and at least one of the first and second electrodes is supported movably in the direction of thermal expansion by the corresponding support member. With this arrangement, the variation in the spacing between the first electrode (anode electrode) and the second electrode (cathode electrode) can be reduced when the first and second electrodes are heated.

Thin film formation apparatus including engagement members for support during thermal expansion

An excellent silicon-based thin-film photoelectric conversion device is manufactured simply and efficiently at a low cost. Specifically, a method of manufacturing the silicon-based thin-film photoelectric conversion device including a p-type semiconductor layer, an i-type microcrystalline silicon-based photoelectric conversion layer and an n-type semiconductor layer deposited by plasma CVD includes the steps of: successively depositing the p-type semiconductor layer, the i-type microcrystalline silicon-based photoelectric conversion layer and the n-type semiconductor layer on a substrate within the same plasma CVD film deposition chamber; transferring the substrate out of the film deposition chamber; and subsequently to the step of depositing the p-type semiconductor layer, the i-type microcrystalline silicon-based photoelectric conversion layer and the n-type semiconductor layer, eliminating influences of remaining n-type impurities on a cathode and/or within the film deposition chamber.

Growing community of inventors

Nara, Japan

Yusuke Fukuoka