1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to holding units, assembly systems, sputtering units, and processing methods and processing units, and more particularly to a holding unit that holds an object which at least partially contains a magnetic substance, an assembly system that uses the holding unit, a sputtering unit that forms a thin film on a base material by making ions collide with a target material in vacuum, a processing method in which the object containing the magnetic substance at least partially is processed and a processing unit that processes the object.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, semiconductor processing technology using micromachining technology is used for integration of fine devices, and MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System (or MST (Microsystem Technology))) can be cited as a typical example. MEMS is an ultra-compact sensor, an actuator, and an electromechanical structure by the nanometer unit manufactured in a semiconductor process, especially using micromachining technology, which is based on integrated circuit technology, and refers to a fused unit of a component or a mechanism of an electrical system and a mechanical system on which miniaturization is performed to the limit. The limit in this case, for example, means that the narrowest width of a shape such as an exposed uneven shape is under 100 μm, at least under 1000 μm.
The micromachining technology used in MEMS can be divided into two classes: bulk micromachining by silicon bulk etching; and surface micromachining in which polysilicon, a silicon nitride film, an oxide film and the like are deposited on a silicon, and etching is performed according to a designed shape in order to make a structure.
A fine unit such as an LSI, as well as MEMS, is also produced in large numbers on one silicon wafer using semiconductor manufacturing technology. Therefore, in the final stage in the manufacturing process, dicing has to be performed on the silicon wafer so as to separate each fine unit (e.g. refer to Kokai (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication) No. 11-40520).
By employing the manufacturing method of manufacturing a plurality of devices together on one wafer as is described above, alignment marks formed on a part of the wafer can be used for position setting in order to improve the processing accuracy of lithography transfer applied to each layer. Or in the development or etching process, there is an advantage that the devices can be handled as one large entity called a wafer, which makes the devices very easy to handle. Accordingly, it is not too much to say that such an advantage is one of the many reasons for the rapid progress in the semiconductor manufacturing technology up to the present date.
However, on the other hand, because the processing method of the silicon wafer is limited to the method in which resist coating, exposure, development, etching and doping are sequentially performed and the method has a structural limit of depositing a structural object on a plane and the like, it is relatively difficult to generate a steric fine structure that does not have a deposited structure, and the units (components) that can be manufactured are limited.
Recently, there are cases at a research level where a worker builds a micromachine by assembling fine components using a manipulator; however, the technology for mass-producing such a unit does not exist. Even if research cases on key factors such as a micromotor or internal combustion are publicized, research cases as well as the mass-production technology for combining such factors are limited in the present situation. As is described above, because a micromachine cannot be built by combining new key factors such as the micromotor, the status quo of the current MEMS module is that the modules all have to be manufactured consistently by one company.
On the contrary, if a final module can be manufactured by building up new key factors such as a plurality of micromotors, this can widely broaden the industrial base, which anticipates an increasing development in the industry.
More particularly, for example, it can be considered that by scaling down existing machines, the machines can be applied in various fields. To be more specific, if a nuclear engine can be scaled down by scaling down all the components used in an existing nuclear engine, the possibility arises of the nuclear engine being used as a residential generator, or if a fine actuator can be manufactured by scaling down existing actuators, the possibility arises, for example, of artificial muscles being manufactured by linking together the fine actuators.
However, under present circumstances, there are no signs that show progress in such an approach. The reason for this is attributed to the fact that there is more difficulty in handling the components (assembling, applying secondary processing) that are scaled down than the difficulty in scaling down the components. From such a viewpoint, a technology for fully handling fine components is considered to be necessary.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds