This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-020901, filed on Feb. 5, 2016, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
An embodiment described herein relates generally to an imprint apparatus, an imprint method, and a pattern forming method.
To manufacture semiconductor devices and electronic devices having a fine structure, an imprint method of transferring a pattern of a template (imprint mold) to a film to be processed is known.
In general, according to an embodiment, an imprint apparatus includes a template holder configured to hold a template that has a pattern formed thereon, the pattern to be transferred to a substrate by an imprinting process, a stage configured to hold the substrate, a liquid ejecting device configured to eject a resin precursor onto the substrate, an electric field plate configured to apply an electric field to the resin precursor on the substrate, and an electric field controller configured to apply a voltage to the electric field plate.
An example embodiment of an imprint apparatus and an imprint method will be explained below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The imprint apparatus and an imprint method disclosed herein are not limited to the example embodiment(s) described below.
Hereinafter, an imprint apparatus and an imprint method according to an embodiment will be described with reference to
The imprint apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes an electric field controlling unit (controller) 2, an electric field applying unit 3, a wafer stage (moving stage) 4, a liquid dropping device (droplet ejecting device) 5, a template stage (template holder) 6, and a light irradiation device 8.
A wafer 1 is mounted on the wafer stage 4, and the wafer stage 4 can move in horizontal directions with the wafer 1 mounted thereon. A film 1a to be processed is placed on the wafer 1. The film 1a includes at least one of an oxide film, a carbon-containing film (e.g. organic film and pure carbon film), and a polysilicon film. Although the film 1a is depicted in
A template having a light-transmitting property such as quartz template can be used as the template 7, but a material of the template 7 is not limited thereto.
The template stage 6 supports the template 7, and presses a patterned surface of the template 7 against the resist R droplets on the wafer 1. The template stage 6 presses the template 7 against the resist R droplets and releases the template 7 from the resist R by moving mainly in the vertical direction. The resist R used for the imprint process of the present embodiment is, for example, a photo-curable resin, but not limited thereto.
The template stage 6 also has a contact sensor (not shown). The contact sensor detects contact of the template 7 with the resist R, so that the template 7 does not contact the wafer 1 by moving down further.
The light irradiation device 8 is located above the template stage 6.
The liquid dropping device 5 is configured to apply the resist R (or a precursor thereto) on the wafer 1 as droplets. The liquid dropping device 5 includes a liquid dropping unit 5a and a resist tank 5b. The liquid dropping unit 5a is, for example, an ink jet nozzle. In that case, the resist R is formed on the wafer 1 by an inkjet coating method. However, the coating method of the resist R is not limited thereto.
The electric field applying unit 3 (see
The electric field controlling unit 2 controls voltage applied to the electric field applying unit 3 for controlling intensity of the electric field generated from the electric field applying unit 3. The electric field controlling unit 2 applies a voltage, for example 100-200V, to the electric field applying unit 3. The voltage may be a direct current (DC) voltage or an alternating current (AC) voltage.
Next, the electric field generated from the electric field applying unit 3 when voltage is applied to the electric field applying unit 3 will be described.
The electric field controlling unit 2 controls intensity of voltage applied to the electric field applying unit 3 in order to control intensity of the electric field to a value that is desirable to expose the droplets of the resist R formed on the wafer 1 to an electric field of uniform intensity. The intensity of the electric field and its uniformity change depending on voltage applied to the electric field applying unit 3 and a distance G between the wafer 1 and the electric field applying unit 3. As shown in
Next, a method of removing bubbles in the droplets of the resist by using the electric field will be described.
The resist R in the liquid dripping devise 5 passes through a filter of 10 nm mesh when the resist R is conveyed from the resist tank 5b to the liquid dropping unit 5a. During this conveyance, some bubbles are removed from the resist R. However, the filter may not be able to remove the bubbles completely, and thus a few microscopic bubbles may remain or otherwise form in the droplets of resist R which have been applied to the wafer 1 from the liquid dropping unit 5a. These microscopic bubbles are referred to as microbubbles MB. These microbubbles MB have a diameter of about 0.1-30 μm. At least a portion of surfaces of the microbubbles MB is covered with negative ions, and the microbubbles MB are charged entirely to the negative (about −40 mV).
As shown in
The droplets of the resist R underneath the bubble layer L are detected by the contact sensor when the droplets of the resist R are touched by the template 7 at a following step and a lower end of the template 7 contacts a lower end of a bubble layer (i.e., an upper end of the resist R: dotted lines in
Once the contact sensor detects that the template 7 is contacting the resist R, the template 7 stops pressing, and the resist R is allowed to fill in a recess pattern of the template 7 by a capillary phenomenon. At this time, the rest of microbubbles MB in the droplets of the resist R disappear because of the pressure that the resist is filled into the template 7.
Next, an imprint method using the imprint apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described in more detail.
As shown in
Also, the wafer 1 is loaded onto the wafer stage 4. The wafer stage 4 detects a position of the wafer 1 thereon, and moves the wafer 1 to a resist dropping position below the liquid dropping unit 5a. Then, droplets of the resist R are applied from the liquid dropping unit 5a to a targeting shot position of the film 1a on the wafer 1. When the application of the resist has completed, the wafer 1 is moved below the electric field applying unit 3.
The electric field applying unit 3 exposes the droplets of the resist R by the method described in
Thereafter, as shown in
Then, imprint is performed on a predetermined shot position on the surface of the film 1a.
As shown in
The light irradiation device 8 emits light while the resist R remains in the recess of the template 7. The light passes through the template 7 that has optical transparency and reaches the resist R. As a result, the resist R is cured by light irradiation.
Next, as shown in
The resist dropping process and the imprinting process described above are sequentially performed at all of shot positions of the film 1a.
When the imprinting process has been carried out for all shot positions of the film 1a, a residual film of the resist R formed at positions that do not correspond to the recess pattern of the template 7 is removed by etching as shown in
Next, as shown in
Further, it is also possible to form a reversed pattern on the film 1a by a method illustrated in
Then, as shown in
According to the imprint method using the imprint apparatus according to the present embodiment, it is possible to remove microbubbles from the applied, uncured resist by generating an electric field above the applied resist material before imprinting of the resist on the film 1a to be processed. This imprint method can suppress forming an incomplete pattern as shown in
In the present embodiment, the resist R includes a photo-curable resin, and is cured by UV light, but curing of the resist R is not limited to this method. For example, the resist R may include a thermosetting resin and may be cured by heat. In this case, a heating device (heater) to heat the thermosetting resin can be set below (or within) the wafer stage 4 or above the template stage 6.
The imprint apparatus according to the present embodiment can also be applied to a nano-imprint process.
While certain embodiments have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example only, and are intended to limit the scope of the invention. Indeed, the novel devices and methods described herein may be embodied in a variety of other forms; furthermore, various omissions, substitutions and changes in the form of the embodiments described herein may be made without departing from the spirit of the inventions. The accompanying claims and their equivalents are intended to cover such forms or modification as would fall within the scope and spirit of the inventions.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2016-020901 | Feb 2016 | JP | national |