1-17. (canceled)
18. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate, which removes a foreign material deposited on a substrate, comprising:
an electrostatic chuck forming a substrate chucking surface to which the substrate is attracted;
resin sheet supplying means for supplying a resin sheet to the substrate chucking surface;
resin sheet collecting means for collecting the supplied resin sheet; and
substrate transfer means for transferring the substrate, wherein:
the substrate supplied to the electrostatic chuck by the substrate transfer means is attracted to the substrate chucking surface through the resin sheet supplied by the resin sheet supplying means;
the foreign material deposited on a side of the substrate chucking surface of the substrate is transferred to the resin sheet and removed; and
the resin sheet to which the foreign material is transferred is collected by the resin sheet collecting means.
19. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 18, wherein:
the electrostatic chuck is divided into at least a central electrostatic chuck for attracting a central portion of the substrate and a peripheral electrostatic chuck for attracting a peripheral portion of the substrate;
the apparatus for removing the foreign material further comprises height direction adjustment means capable of protruding the central electrostatic chuck with respect to the peripheral electrostatic chuck in a perpendicular direction to the substrate chucking surface to form a gap between an end portion of the substrate and the resin sheet; and
the substrate transfer means comprises a robot arm having a substrate holding portion capable of holding the substrate with use of the gap formed between the substrate and the resin sheet.
20. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 19, wherein the height direction adjustment means includes:
a peripheral chuck lifting mechanism capable of moving the peripheral electrostatic chuck downward in the perpendicular direction from the substrate chucking surface; and
a resin sheet height adjustment mechanism capable of adjusting a height position of at least a part of the resin sheet which corresponds to the peripheral electrostatic chuck to a level lower than the substrate chucking surface.
21. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 19, further comprising substrate lift-up means which is inserted into the gap between the substrate and the resin sheet formed by the height direction adjustment means, and is capable of lifting up the substrate.
22. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 19, wherein:
the resin sheet supplying means includes:
a delivery roll around which the resin sheet is wound in a roll shape; and
a supply side guide roller for guiding the resin sheet delivered from the delivery roll to the side of the substrate chucking surface; and
the resin sheet collecting means includes:
a wind-up roll for winding up the resin sheet; and
a collection side guide roller for guiding the resin sheet fed from the substrate chucking surface to a side of the wind-up roll.
23. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 19, wherein the resin sheet contains at least one material selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl alcohol, low-density polyethylene, polyethylene, polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, acetyl cellulose, polycarbonate, nylon, polyimide, aramid, and polycarbodiimide, and has a thickness of 5 \u03bcm to 100 \u03bcm.
24. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 19, wherein the substrate chucking surface comprises an electrode for the electrostatic chuck.
25. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 19, wherein:
the substrate chucking surface comprises an electrode for the electrostatic chuck; and
the electrode comprises an elastic electrode having Shore hardness of 20 Hz to 90 Hs and volume resistivity of 100\u03a9\xb7cm to 1\xd710\u22125\u03a9\xb7cm, and has a thickness of 0.05 mm to 3 mm.
26. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 18, further comprising:
at least two electrostatic chucks including a first electrostatic chuck forming a first substrate chucking surface and a second electrostatic chuck forming a second substrate chucking surface; and
substrate rotating means capable of adjusting an orientation of the substrate in a direction parallel to the substrate chucking surface,
wherein the orientation of the substrate from which the foreign material is removed by the first electrostatic chuck is adjusted by the substrate rotating means and the substrate is supplied to the second electrostatic chuck to further remove a foreign material.
27. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 26, wherein the substrate rotating means adjusts the orientation of the substrate such that a non-chucking area of the substrate which does not overlap with an electrode of the first electrostatic chuck when the electrode is projected to a substrate side attracted to the first substrate chucking surface is included in an electrode projection area obtained by projecting an electrode of the second electrostatic chuck to the substrate side; and the second electrostatic chuck removes the foreign material.
28. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 26, wherein:
each of the first electrostatic chuck and the second electrostatic chuck comprises a bipolar electrostatic chuck having two electrodes to which voltages whose potentials are different from each other are respectively applied; and
the substrate rotating means adjusts the orientation of the substrate such that a non-chucking area of the substrate which corresponds to an interval between the two electrodes of the first electrostatic chuck is included in an electrode projection area obtained by projecting the two electrodes of the second electrostatic chuck to a substrate side, and the second electrostatic chuck removes the foreign material.
29. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 26, wherein:
each of a non-chucking area of the substrate which does not overlap with an electrode of the first electrostatic chuck when the electrode is projected to a substrate side attracted to the first substrate chucking surface and a non-chucking area of the substrate which does not overlap with an electrode of the second electrostatic chuck when the electrode is projected to a substrate side attracted to the second substrate chucking surface includes an end portion of the substrate; and
the substrate transfer means comprises a robot arm having a substrate holding portion capable of holding the substrate with use of the end portion of the substrate.
30. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 26, wherein the resin sheet contains at least one material selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl alcohol, low-density polyethylene, polyethylene, polyvinylidene chloride, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, acetyl cellulose, polycarbonate, nylon, polyimide, aramid, and polycarbodiimide, and has a thickness of 5 \u03bcm to 100 \u03bcm.
31. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 26, wherein:
the resin sheet supplying means includes:
a delivery roll around which the resin sheet is wound in a roll shape; and
a supply side guide roller for guiding the resin sheet delivered from the delivery roll to a side of the first substrate chucking surface; and
the resin sheet collecting means includes:
a wind-up roll for winding up the resin sheet; and
a collection side guide roller for guiding the resin sheet fed from the second substrate chucking surface to a side of the wind-up roll.
32. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 26, wherein each of the first substrate chucking surface and the second substrate chucking surface comprises an electrode for each of the electrostatic chucks.
33. An apparatus for removing a foreign material from a substrate according to claim 26, wherein:
each of the first substrate chucking surface and the second substrate chucking surface comprises an electrode for each of the electrostatic chucks; and
the electrode comprises an elastic electrode having Shore hardness of 20 Hz to 90 Hs and volume resistivity of 100\u03a9\xb7cm to 1\xd710\u22125\u03a9\xb7cm, and has a thickness of 0.05 mm to 3 mm.
34. A method of removing a foreign material from a substrate, which removes a foreign material deposited on a substrate, comprising:
supplying the substrate to an electrostatic chuck forming a substrate chucking surface to which the substrate is attracted; and
attracting the substrate to the substrate chucking surface through a resin sheet to transfer the foreign material deposited on a side of the substrate chucking surface of the substrate to the resin sheet, thereby removing the foreign material.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of suppressing noise in a speech signal, comprising:
a) converting the speech signal to a first vector of frequency spectral speech components and a second vector of frequency spectral speech components identical to said first vector frequency spectral speech components;
b) determining a vector of noise suppression coefficients based on said first vector frequency spectral speech components;
c) determining a speech-versus-noise relationship based on said first vector frequency spectral speech components;
d) determining a vector of post-suppression coefficients based on said determined speech-versus-noise relationship, said first vector frequency spectral speech components and said noise suppression coefficients; and
e) weighting said second vector frequency spectral speech components by said vector of post-suppression coefficients.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein (d) comprises determining a first correction factor based on said first vector frequency spectral speech components and calculating said vector of post-suppression coefficients based on the first correction factor and a predetermined second correction factor, combining the first and second correction factors to produce a combined correction factor and weighting said vector of noise suppression coefficients by said combined correction factor to produce said vector of post-suppression coefficients.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising weighting said first vector frequency spectral speech components with said noise suppression coefficients and wherein (d) comprises using the weighted first vector frequency spectral speech components for determining said first correction factor.
4. The method of claim 3, further comprising estimating a vector of frequency spectral noise components from said frequency spectral speech components and wherein (d) comprises using the vector of the estimated frequency spectral noise components for determining said first correction factor.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein (d) comprises determining said second correction factor based on said first vector frequency spectral speech components and using the first and second correction factors to determine said vector of post-suppression coefficients.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein (d) comprises combining said first and second correction factors by using said determined speech-versus-noise relationship to produce said combined correction factor.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein (d) comprises combining said first correction factor and said second correction factor according to pFV+(1\u2212p)FU, where p represents said speech-versus-noise relationship and FU and FV represent said first correction factor and said second-correction factor, respectively.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein said speech-versus-noise relationship represents a probability of speech presence in said first vector frequency spectral speech components.
9. A method of suppressing noise in a speech signal, comprising:
a) converting the speech signal to a first vector of frequency spectral speech components and a second vector of frequency spectral speech components identical to said first vector frequency spectral speech components;
b) determining a vector of noise suppression coefficients based on said first vector frequency spectral speech components;
c) determining a speech-versus-noise relationship based on said first vector frequency spectral speech components;
d) determining a plurality of lower limit values of noise suppression coefficients based on said determined speech-versus-noise relationship;
e) comparing said noise suppression coefficients with said lower limit values of noise suppression coefficients and generating a vector of post-suppression coefficients depending on results of the comparison; and
f) weighting said second vector of frequency spectral speech components by said vector of post-suppression coefficients.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein (d) comprises determining said plurality of lower limit values of noise suppression coefficients further based on a first correction factor lower limit value and a second correction factor lower limit value.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein (d) comprises determining said first correction factor lower limit value and said second correction factor lower limit value based on said first vector frequency spectral speech components.
12. The method of claim 9, wherein said speech-versus-noise relationship represents a probability of speech presence in said frequency spectral speech components.
13. A method of suppressing noise in a speech signal, comprising:
a) converting the speech signal to a first vector of frequency spectral speech components and a second vector of frequency spectral speech components identical to said first vector of frequency spectral speech components;
b) determining a vector of noise suppression coefficients based on said first vector frequency spectral speech components;
c) weighting said first vector frequency spectral speech components by said vector of noise suppression coefficients;
d) determining a vector of correction factors based on said weighted first vector frequency spectral speech components and said vector of noise suppression coefficients; and
e) weighting said vector of noise suppression coefficients by said vector of correction factors; and
f) weighting said second vector of frequency spectral speech components by said weighted vector of noise suppression coefficients.
14. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining a speech-versus-noise relationship based on the weighted first vector frequency spectral speech components, and wherein (d) comprises determining said vector of suppression correction factors based on said weighted first vector frequency spectral speech components, said vector of noise suppression coefficients and said speech-versus-noise relationship.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein said speech-versus-noise relationship represents a probability of speech presence in said frequency spectral speech components.
16. The method of claim 13, further comprising estimating a vector of frequency spectral noise components from said first vector of frequency spectral speech components, and wherein (e) comprises:
e1) determining a vector of first correction factors based on said weighted first vector of frequency spectral speech components, said noise suppression coefficients, said speech-versus-noise relationship, and said frequency spectral noise components; and
e2) combining said first correction factors with second correction factors according to said speech-versus-noise relationship to produce said vector of suppression correction factors.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein (e2) comprises combining said first correction factors and said second correction factors according to pFV+(1\u2212p)FU, where p represents said speech-versus-noise relationship and FU and FV represent said first and second correction factors, respectively.
18. The method of claim 13, further comprising weighting said vector of noise suppression coefficients by said suppression correction factors, and wherein (e) comprises weighting said second vector of frequency spectral speech components with the weighted noise suppression coefficients.
19. An apparatus for suppressing noise in a speech signal, comprising:
a converter that converts the speech signal to a first vector of frequency spectral speech components and a second vector of frequency spectral speech components identical to said first vector of frequency spectral speech components;
a noise suppression coefficient calculator that determines a vector of noise suppression coefficients based on said first vector frequency spectral speech components;
a speech-versus-noise relationship calculator that determines a speech-versus-noise relationship based on said first vector frequency spectral speech components;
a post-suppression coefficient calculator that determines a vector of post-suppression coefficients based on said speech-versus-noise relationship, said first vector frequency spectral speech components and said vector of noise suppression coefficients; and
a weighting circuit that weights said second vector of frequency spectral speech components by said vector of post-suppression coefficients.
20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said post-suppression coefficient calculator determines a first correction factor based on said first vector frequency spectral speech components and calculates said post-suppression coefficient based on the first correction factor and a predetermined second correction factor, and combines the first and second correction factors to produce said post-suppression coefficient.
21. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising a third weighting circuit that weights said first vector frequency spectral speech components with said noise suppression coefficients from said noise suppression coefficient calculator and wherein said post-suppression coefficient calculator uses the weighted first vector frequency spectral speech components to determine said first correction factor.
22. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising a noise estimation circuit that estimates a vector of frequency spectral noise components from said first vector of frequency spectral speech components, and wherein said post-suppression coefficient calculator uses the estimated frequency spectral noise components to determine said first correction factor.
23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said post-suppression coefficient calculator determines said second correction factor based on said first vector of frequency spectral speech components and uses the first and second correction factors to determine said vector of post-suppression coefficients.
24. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said post-suppression coefficient calculator comprises a combining circuit that combines said first and second correction factors using said determined speech-versus-noise relationship.
25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein said combining circuit combines said first correction factor and said second correction factor according to pFV+(1\u2212p)FU, where p represents said speech-versus-noise relationship and FU and FV represent said first correction factor and said second-correction factor, respectively.
26. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said speech-versus-noise relationship represents a probability of presence of a speech section in said first vector of frequency spectral speech components.
27. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising a first averaging circuit that averages said frequency spectral speech components to produce a speech power mean value and a second averaging circuit that averages the estimated frequency spectral noise components to produce a noise power mean value, and wherein speech-versus-noise relationship calculator comprises:
a pair of smoothing circuits that smooth the speech power mean value according to first and second smoothing factors respectively to produce a first smoothed speech power mean value and a second smoothed speech power mean value;
a pair of first and second function value calculators that produce a first function value and a second function value from said noise power mean value;
a pair of first and second index calculators that produce a first index from said first function value according to said first smoothed speech power mean value and a second index from said second function value according to said second smoothed speech power mean value; and
an adder that sums said first and second indices to produce an output signal representing said speech-versus-noise relationship.
28. An apparatus for suppressing noise in a speech signal, comprising:
a converter that converts the speech signal to a first vector of frequency spectral speech components and a second vector of frequency spectral speech components identical to said first vector of frequency spectral speech components;
a noise suppression coefficient calculator that determines a vector of noise suppression coefficients based on said first vector of frequency spectral speech components;
a speech-versus-noise relationship calculator that determines a speech-versus-noise relationship based on said first vector of frequency spectral speech components;
a post-suppression coefficient calculator that determines a plurality of lower limit values of noise suppression coefficients based on said speech-versus-noise relationship, compares said vector of noise suppression coefficients with said lower limit values of noise suppression coefficients, and generates a vector of post-suppression coefficients depending on results of the comparison; and
a weighting circuit that weights said second vector of frequency spectral speech components by said vector of post-suppression coefficients.
29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said post-suppression coefficient calculator determines said plurality of lower limit values of noise suppression coefficients further based on a first correction factor lower limit value and a second correction factor lower limit value.
30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said post-suppression coefficient calculator determines said first correction factor lower limit value and said speech presence correction factor lower limit value based on said first vector of frequency spectral speech components.
31. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said speech-versus-noise relationship represents a probability of presence of a speech section in said first vector of frequency spectral speech components.
32. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising a first averaging circuit that averages said first vector frequency spectral speech components to produce a speech power mean value and a second averaging circuit that averages the estimated frequency spectral noise components to produce a noise power mean value, and wherein speech-versus-noise relationship calculator comprises:
a pair of smoothing circuits that smooth the speech power mean value according to first and second smoothing factors respectively to produce a first smoothed speech power mean value and a second smoothed speech power mean value;
a pair of first and second function value calculators that produce a first function value and a second function value from said noise power mean value;
a pair of first and second index calculators that produce a first index from said first function value according to said first smoothed speech power mean value and a second index from said second function value according to said second smoothed speech power mean value; and
an adder that sums said first and second indices to produce an output signal representing said speech-versus-noise relationship.
33. An apparatus for suppressing noise in a speech signal, comprising:
a converter that converts the speech signal to a first vector of frequency spectral speech components and a second vector of frequency spectral speech components identical to said first vector of frequency spectral speech components;
a noise suppression coefficient calculator that determines a vector of noise suppression coefficients based on said first vector of frequency spectral speech components;
a calculator that weights said first vector of frequency spectral components by said vector of noise suppression coefficients;
a suppression coefficient corrector that calculates a vector of first section correction factors according to said weighted first vector frequency spectral components, combines the vector of the first section correction factors with a vector of second section correction factors to produce a vector of combined correction factors, and weights said vector of noise suppression coefficient by said vector of combined correction factors to produce a vector of suppression correction factors; and
a weighting circuit that weights said second vector of frequency spectral speech components by said vector of suppression correction factors.
34. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising a speech-versus-noise relationship calculator that determines a speech-versus-noise relationship based on said weighted first vector of frequency spectral speech components, and wherein said suppression coefficient corrector determines said plurality of lower limit values of noise suppression coefficients based on said speech-versus-noise relationship.
35. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein said speech-versus-noise relationship represents a probability of presence of a speech section in said first vector of frequency spectral speech components.
36. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising further comprising a first averaging circuit that averages said first vector frequency spectral speech components to produce a speech power mean value and a second averaging circuit that averages the estimated frequency spectral noise components to produce a noise power mean value, and wherein said speech-versus-noise relationship calculator comprises:
a pair of smoothing circuits that smooth the speech power mean value according to first and second smoothing factors respectively to produce a first smoothed speech power mean value and a second smoothed speech power mean value;
a pair of first and second function value calculators that produce a first function value and a second function value from said noise power mean value;
a pair of first and second index calculators that produce a first index from said first function value according to said first smoothed speech power mean value and a second index from said second function value according to said second smoothed speech power mean value; and
an adder that sums said first and second indices to produce an output signal representing said speech-versus-noise relationship.
37. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein said suppression coefficient corrector combines said vector of first correction factors and said vector of second correction factors according to pFV+(1\u2212p)FU, where p represents said speech-versus-noise relationship and FU and FV represent said first and second correction factors, respectively.