Patent Application
20230060799
The present invention relates to an imprint apparatus, a method of imprinting, a method of manufacturing an article, and a program therefor.
An article having a fine structure such as a semiconductor device or a MEMS can be manufactured using a molding apparatus such as a projection exposure apparatus or an imprint apparatus. In such a molding apparatus, the presence of foreign substance on the substrate results in the failure of the manufactured article. In addition, since the imprint material (ultraviolet curing resin) on the substrate and the mold are brought into contact with each other to mold the imprint material in the imprint apparatus, the foreign substance present on the substrate damages the mold or shortens the lifetime of the mold.
Therefore, a substrate inspection apparatus for inspecting a foreign substance on a substrate is used. For example, a substrate inspection apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-69762 irradiates inspection light (laser light) obliquely onto a substrate and detects a foreign substance by receiving scattered light from the foreign substance with a light receiving unit.
However, in the conventional imprint apparatus, since the mold is replaced with a dedicated mold when a shot region in which a foreign substance exists is imprinted, there is a problem in that an overlay error in the same substrate lot increases, and the yield decreases in exchange for preventing the mold from being damaged. Further, when a plurality of foreign substances are present in the same lot, the number of times of mold replacement increases in accordance with the number of shot regions in which foreign substances are present, and thus there is also a problem in that throughput decreases.
The present invention provides an imprint apparatus that prevents damage to a mold while preventing a decrease in yield and minimizing a decrease in throughput.
According to an aspect of the present invention, an imprint apparatus performing a pattern formation on an imprint material on a substrate by bringing the imprint material on the substrate and a mold into contact with each other, includes: an imprint unit configured to perform the pattern formation; and a control unit configured to control an operation of the imprint unit, in which the control unit performs a control such that the pattern formation is performed on all shot regions, in which no foreign substance exists, on a plurality of substrates using a first mold based on a foreign substance information on the substrate, and then the pattern formation is performed on all shot regions where the foreign substance exists on the plurality of substrates using a second mold different from the first mold.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
It should be noted that the drawings shown below are drawn on a scale different from the actual scale in order to facilitate understanding of the present embodiment.
The imprint apparatus 1 according to this embodiment includes an imprint head (imprint unit) 4, a substrate stage 5, a nozzle 6, a substrate inspection unit 7, a substrate storage unit 8, a storage unit 9, and a control unit 10.
The substrate stage 5 is a stage that moves in the horizontal direction while holding the substrate 3.
The nozzle 6 discharges the imprint material onto the substrate 3.
The imprint head 4 holds the mold 2, controls the posture of the mold 2, and performs vertical driving for bringing the concave-convex pattern of the mold 2 into contact with the imprint material to imprint the pattern. Thus, the imprint material (resin) on the substrate 3 and the mold 2 on which the pattern is formed are brought into contact with each other to form the pattern on the imprint material on the substrate 3.
A substrate inspection unit 7 detects a foreign substance 11 on the substrate 3, and stores position information of the detected foreign substance 11 in a storage unit 9.
In general, in the substrate inspection unit 7, a very sensitive photodetector such as a photomultiplier tube is used in order to enable detection of a fine foreign substance of about several tens nm. In a photomultiplier tube, electrons generated in a photocathode by incident light are accelerated by a high voltage and then collide with a plurality of stages of dynodes that generate secondary electrons. The current accumulated until passing through the last stage dynode is collected at the anode as an amplified signal. As described above, in general, a substrate inspection apparatus that performs a foreign substance inspection on a substrate irradiates the substrate with laser light at an oblique incidence and detects the presence or absence of a foreign substance by receiving scattered light generated from the foreign substance with a light receiving unit.
Here, with respect to the detection of a foreign substance, a state in which a minute object such as a particle is present on the surface of the substrate 3 is described as a state in which a foreign substance is detected, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, since the substrate inspection unit 7 analyzes the intensity distribution of the scattered light from the surface of the substrate 3 to determine the abnormality of the surface of the substrate 3, various states of the surface of the substrate 3 (a foreign substance, a flaw on the substrate surface, a chip, and the like) can be recognized as the abnormality of the surface of the substrate 3, and these are collectively described as the foreign substance information.
The substrate storage unit 8 may store the substrate 3 therein.
The substrate 3 is carried into the imprint apparatus 1 by a substrate conveyance mechanism (not illustrated) and mounted on the substrate stage 5. The substrate conveyance mechanism can also convey the substrate 3 to the substrate storage unit 8, and the substrate 3 on which the imprint process has been completed is conveyed out of the imprint apparatus 1.
The mold 2 is conveyed by a mold conveyance mechanism (not shown) and held by the imprint head 4.
As the imprint material, a curable composition (also referred to as a resin in an uncured state) which is cured by applying energy for curing is used. As the energy for curing, an electromagnetic wave, heat or the like is used. As the electromagnetic waves, for example, light such as infrared rays, visible rays, and ultraviolet rays having wavelengths selected from the range of 10 nm or more and 1 mm or less is used.
The curable composition is a composition that is cured by light irradiation or heating. The photocurable composition that is cured by irradiation with light contains at least a polymerizable compound and a photopolymerization initiator, and may contain a non-polymerizable compound or a solvent as necessary. The non-polymerizable compound is at least one selected from the group consisting of a sensitizer, a hydrogen donor, an internal release agent, a surfactant, an antioxidant, a polymer component, and the like.
The imprint material may be applied in the form of a film onto the substrate by a spin coater or a slit coater. Further, the imprint material may be applied onto the substrate by the liquid ejecting head in the form of droplets, or in the form of islands or films formed by connecting a plurality of droplets. The viscosity (viscosity at 25° C.) of the imprint material is, for example, 1 mPa·s or more and 100 mPa·s or less.
The operation of the imprint apparatus 1 according to first exemplary embodiment 1 will be described below with reference to
The imprint apparatus 1 starts sequence control of substrate processing from a process S201.
When the substrate processing is started, in step S202, the substrate 3 is mounted on the substrate stage 5 by the substrate conveyance mechanism. Before or after the substrate 3 is mounted on the substrate stage 5, the substrate 3 may be positioned at a desired rotation angle or a desired center position with respect to the substrate stage 5 by a position detection apparatus or a positioning apparatus (not shown). This positioning can be performed by measuring a positioning mark provided on the outer shape or outer peripheral portion of the substrate 3.
Thereafter, when the substrate 3 mounted on the substrate stage 5 passes through the inspection region of the substrate inspection unit 7, the presence or absence of the foreign substance 11 present on the surface of the substrate 3 is inspected by the substrate inspection unit 7. As information on the detected foreign substance 11, information on at least the position among information on the position, size, shape, and material of the foreign substance 11 on the substrate 3 is stored in the storage unit 9 (memory) or the control unit 10 (or an internal computer) in the imprint apparatus 1. The storage unit 9 functions as a storage means. After storing the information on the detected foreign substance 11, the control unit 10 or the like is notified of the acquired information. The foreign substance information may be displayed on an operation screen of the computer apparatus so that the user can confirm the foreign substance information through the screen.
Next, in step S203, when the foreign substance 11 is not detected on the surfaces of the substrates 3 based on the substrate inspection result in step S202, the process proceeds to step S204. On the other hand, when the foreign substance 11 is detected, the process proceeds to step S205.
In step S204, all shot regions on the substrate 3 are imprinted with the first mold 2. That is, the imprint material is supplied to the shot region on the substrate 3 by the nozzle 6, and the concave-convex pattern of the first mold 2 is brought into contact with the imprint material on the substrate 3. In this state, the imprint material is irradiated with ultraviolet rays or the like to be photo-cured, thereby forming a pattern. The substrate 3 for which imprinting of all the shot regions has been completed is unloaded from the imprint apparatus 1 by the substrate conveyance mechanism.
In step S205, the shot region in which the foreign substance 11 is detected is not imprinted by the first mold 2, and only the other shot regions in which the foreign substance 11 is not detected are imprinted by the first mold 2. Subsequently, in step S206, the substrate 3 on which imprinting has been completed except for the shot region in which the foreign substance 11 has been detected is transported to the substrate storage unit 8 by the substrate conveyance mechanism. The substrate storage unit 8 is configured to hold the substrate 3 therein, and can store the substrate 3.
Next, in step S207, it is determined that all the substrates 3 in the same lot have been processed, and if there is no unprocessed substrate 3 left, the process proceeds to step S208. When an unprocessed substrate 3 remains, the process returns to step S202, and the processes of S202 to S207 are repeated for the next substrate 3.
In step S208, it is determined whether or not the substrate 3 is stored in the substrate storage unit 8. When no substrate 3 is stored, the process proceeds to step S213, and the process for the substrate lot is ended. On the other hand, when the substrate 3 is stored in the substrate storage unit 8, the process proceeds to step S209. Here, in order to store all the substrates 3 in which the foreign substances 11 are detected in the substrate storage unit 8, the substrate storage unit 8 is configured to store the same number of substrates 3 as the number of substrate lots, and it is preferable that all the substrates 3 of the same lot can be stored at the maximum.
In step S209, the first mold 2 is recovered from the imprint head 4 by a mold conveyance mechanism (not shown), and instead, the second mold 2 is conveyed and held by the imprint head 4. The second mold 2 is used exclusively for imprinting a shot region in which a foreign substance 11 is present, and is used to avoid the risk of damage to the first mold 2 and the substrate 3 due to contact with the foreign substance 11. Therefore, the second mold 2 does not needs to have a concave-convex pattern, and only needs to be capable of imprinting.
Subsequently, in step S210, the substrate 3 stored in the substrate storage unit 8 is mounted on the substrate stage 5, and the entire shot regions in which the non-imprinted foreign substance 11 is present are imprinted with the second mold 2. Thus, the imprinting of all the shot regions on the substrate 3 is completed, and the substrate 3 is unloaded from the imprint apparatus 1 by the substrate conveyance mechanism.
Next, in step S211, it is determined that the substrate 3 is stored in the substrate storage unit 8. When the substrate 3 is stored, the process returns to step S210, and the processes of S210 to S211 are repeated for the next stored substrate 3. When the substrate 3 is not stored in the substrate storage unit 8, the process proceeds to step S212. In step S212, the second mold 2 is collected by the mold conveyance mechanism, and the first mold 2 is held by the imprint head 4. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S213, and the processing for the substrate lot is ended.
Constituent members related to substrate processing such as the imprint head 4, the substrate stage 5, the nozzle 6, and the substrate inspection unit 7 of the imprint apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment are connected to a control unit 10 illustrated in
The configuration of the imprint apparatus 1 and the processing sequence for the substrate lot described above can prevent the mold 2 from being damaged due to contact with the foreign substance 11 during imprinting.
Further, in the present embodiment, there is an effect of preventing a decrease in yield in the same substrate lot while preventing damage to the mold 2. This is because a shot region in the same lot where there is no foreign substance 11 can be imprinted with the mold 2 maintained in the same holding state.
When the holding of the mold 2 is released, the transfer accuracy of the concave-convex pattern changes due to a change in the position or posture of the mold 2, and the overlay error increases. In the present embodiment, since the mold 2 is replaced after the imprinting of all the shot regions in the same lot in which the foreign substance 11 does not exist is completed, the overlay error is not affected by the replacement of the mold 2 except for the shot region in which the foreign substance 11 exists. Although it is necessary to imprint a shot region in which the foreign substance 11 is present in terms of processing in a subsequent step, overlay accuracy comparable to that in a shot region in which the foreign substance 11 is not present is not required.
Furthermore, in this embodiment, even if there are a plurality of substrates 3 including shot regions in which the foreign substance 11 is present in the same lot, the number of times of exchanging the mold 2 is only two at the maximum. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an effect of minimizing a decrease in throughput due to replacement of the mold 2 while preventing damage to the mold 2.
The operation of the imprint apparatus 1 according to the second exemplary embodiment will be described below with reference to
In this exemplary embodiment, the inspection of the substrate 3 by the substrate inspection unit 7 is performed for each shot region. That is, only a shot region to be processed on the substrate 3 is inspected, and immediately thereafter, the shot region is imprinted. This process is repeated for all shot regions in the substrate 3.
The imprint apparatus 1 starts sequence control of substrate processing from step S301. When the substrate processing is started, the substrate 3 is mounted on the substrate stage 5 by the substrate conveyance mechanism in step S302. When the substrate 3 passes through the inspection region of the substrate inspection unit 7, the presence or absence of the foreign substance 11 present on the surface of the shot region to be imprinted is inspected by the substrate inspection unit 7.
Next, in step S303, when the foreign substance 11 is not detected on the surfaces of the shot regions on the basis of the inspection result of the shot regions in step S302, the process proceeds to step S304. On the other hand, when the foreign substance 11 is detected, the process proceeds to step S305. In step S304, a shot region in which the foreign substance 11 is not detected is imprinted with the first mold 2. On the other hand, in step S305, imprint is not performed on a shot region in which the foreign substance 11 is detected.
Subsequently, in step S306, it is determined whether or not a series of processing of substrate inspection and imprinting has been performed for all shot regions in the substrate 3. If there is no unprocessed shot region, the process proceeds to step S307. When there is an unprocessed shot region, the process returns to step S302, and the processes of S302 to S306 are repeated for the next shot region.
In step S307, it is determined whether or not imprinting has been performed on all shot regions in the substrate 3. If there is no non-imprinted shot region, the process proceeds to step S309. On the other hand, if there is a non-imprinted shot region, the process proceeds to step S308. In step S308, the substrate 3 having a non-imprinted shot region is transported to and stored in the substrate storage unit 8.
Subsequent steps S309 to S315 have the same flow as the steps S207 to S213 in
Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to
The imprint apparatus 400 includes an imprint head 4, a substrate stage 5, and a nozzle 6. A substrate inspection apparatus 401 can be connected to the imprint apparatus 400.
The substrate inspection apparatus 401 includes a substrate stage 402, a substrate conveyance mechanism 403, a station 404, a substrate inspection unit 7, and a substrate storage unit 8. An auxiliary apparatus 405 such as a coater/developer may be connected to the substrate inspection apparatus 401.
The auxiliary apparatus 405 is an apparatus for disposing the composition on the substrate 3, and supplies the substrate 3 on which the composition is disposed to the station 404 in the substrate inspection apparatus 401. Subsequently, in the substrate inspection apparatus 401, the substrate 3 supplied to the station 404 is transferred to the substrate stage 402 by the substrate conveyance mechanism 403. When the substrate 3 mounted on the substrate stage 402 passes through the inspection region of the substrate inspection unit 7, the presence or absence of the foreign substance 11 present on the surface is inspected by the substrate inspection unit 7.
The inspected substrate 3 is mounted on the substrate stage 5 of the imprint apparatus 400 by the substrate conveyance mechanism 403. The substrate storage unit 8 stores the substrate 3 on which imprinting has been completed except for the shot region in which the foreign substance 11 is present. Here, the substrate storage unit 8 may be configured in the imprint apparatus 400, or may be configured in both the substrate inspection apparatus 401 and the imprint apparatus 400.
Although
When substrates 3 of different lots are processed by the connected imprint apparatuses 400, the number of substrates 3 that can be stored in the substrate storage unit 8 is determined in accordance with the number of substrates in lot to be simultaneously processed in the substrate processing apparatus 4000. Specifically, it is preferable that the same number of substrates 3 as those in all substrates in lot to be simultaneously processed can be stored. Alternatively, each imprint apparatus 400 may be provided with a substrate storage unit 8 capable of storing all substrates 3 of the same lot.
The flow chart showing the imprinting method for the substrate lot of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and is shown in
The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a substrate inspection unit 7 and a substrate storage unit 8 are provided in a substrate inspection apparatus 401. Therefore, in the flowchart of
In this embodiment, as in the first embodiment, it is possible to prevent damage to the mold 2, to prevent a decrease in yield in the same substrate lot, and to minimize a decrease in throughput of the substrate processing apparatus 4000.
A method for manufacturing a device (a semiconductor integrated circuit element, a liquid crystal display element, or the like) as an article includes a step of forming a pattern on a substrate (a wafer, a glass plate, or a film-like substrate) using the above-described imprint apparatus.
The manufacturing method may further include a step of etching the substrate on which the pattern is formed.
When another article such as a patterned medium (recording medium) or an optical element is manufactured, the manufacturing method may include another process of processing a substrate on which a pattern is formed instead of etching.
The method for manufacturing an article according to the present embodiment is advantageous in at least one of performance, quality, productivity, and production cost of the article as compared with a conventional method.
The pattern of the cured product formed using the imprint apparatus is used permanently in at least a part of various articles or temporarily when various articles are manufactured. The article is an electric circuit element, an optical element, a MEMS, a recording element, a sensor, a mold, or the like. Examples of the electric circuit elements include volatile or nonvolatile semi-conductor memories such as DRAM, SRAM, flash memory, and MRAM, and semi-conductor elements such as LSI, CCD, image sensor, and FPGA. Examples of the optical element include a micro lens, a light guide, a waveguide, an antireflection film, a diffraction grating, a polarizing element, a color filter, a light-emitting element, a display, and a solar cell. Examples of the MEMS include a DMD, a micro-channel, and an electromechanical transducer. Examples of the recording elements include optical disks such as CD, DVD, magnetic disks, magneto-optical disks, and magnetic heads. Examples of the sensor include a magnetic sensor, an optical sensor, a gyro sensor, and the like. Examples of the mold include a mold for imprinting.
The pattern of the cured product is used as it is as a constituent member of at least a part of the article, or is used temporarily as a resist mask. After the etching or the ion implantation is performed, the resist mask is removed.
Next, a method for producing the article of the present invention will be described. As shown in
As shown in
As illustrated in
Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2021-141294, filed Aug. 31, 2021, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-141294 | Aug 2021 | JP | national |
