Cleaning apparatus, imprint apparatus, lithography apparatus, and cleaning method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10915032-B2
Application number	US-201916454599-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2019
Priority date	Jul 20, 2018
Publication date	Feb 9, 2021
Grant date	Feb 9, 2021

Abstract

To provide a cleaning apparatus advantageous for cleaning, for example, an original plate used to transfer a pattern to a substrate.
Provided is a cleaning apparatus that cleans an original plate used when a pattern is transferred to a substrate, the cleaning apparatus including a region dividing unit which divides the original plate into a plurality of regions on the basis of information of the original plate, a conditions generator which generates cleaning conditions for each of the separate regions, and a cleaner which cleans the original plate on the basis of the cleaning conditions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cleaning apparatus that cleans a mold for forming a pattern in an imprinting material on a substrate, the cleaning apparatus comprising:
a region dividing unit configured to divide the mold into a plurality of regions on the basis of a position of a mark to be used when alignment with the substrate is performed;
a conditions generator configured to generate cleaning conditions for each of the plurality of regions such that a first cleaning condition is generated for a first region among the plurality of regions and a second cleaning condition different from the first cleaning condition is generated for a second region different from the first region among the plurality of regions; and
a cleaner configured to clean the first region of the mold on the basis of the first cleaning condition and to clean the second region of the mold on the basis of the second cleaning condition different from the first cleaning condition,
wherein the conditions generator is configured to set a strength of cleaning for a region among the plurality of regions in which the mark is positioned to be lower than strengths of cleaning for other regions among the plurality of regions.

2. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the mold includes a pattern portion, and
the region dividing unit is further configured to divide the mold into the plurality of regions on the basis of a density of a pattern formed in the pattern portion or a position of an end of the pattern portion.

3. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the cleaner is configured to perform the cleaning using a plasma.

4. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the plasma is an atmospheric pressure plasma generated in atmospheric pressure.

5. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a recovering unit configured to recover a gas generated due to the cleaning.

6. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the information of the mold is input to the region dividing unit.

7. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an output unit configured to output a control instruction to the cleaner,
wherein the output unit is configured to output an instruction for executing cleaning to the cleaner in a case where a number of times that the mold is used exceeds a threshold value.

8. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an output unit configured to output a control instruction to the cleaner,
wherein the output unit is configured to output an instruction for executing cleaning to the cleaner in a case where a period of use of the mold exceeds a threshold value.

9. A cleaning apparatus that cleans a mold including a pattern portion for forming a pattern in an imprinting material on the substrate, the cleaning apparatus comprising:
a region dividing unit configured to divide the mold into a plurality of regions on the basis of a density of a pattern formed in the pattern portion or a position of an end of the pattern portion;
a conditions generator configured to generate cleaning conditions for each of the plurality of regions such that a first cleaning condition is generated for a first region among the plurality of regions and a second cleaning condition different from the first cleaning condition is generated for a second region different from the first region among the plurality of regions; and
a cleaner configured to clean the first region of the mold on the basis of the first cleaning condition and to clean the second region of the mold on the basis of the second cleaning condition different from the first cleaning condition,
wherein the pattern portion formed in the mold has a convex shape with respect to the vicinity of the pattern portion; and
the conditions generator is configured to set a strength of cleaning for a region among the plurality of regions in which the end of the pattern portion is positioned to be higher than strengths of cleaning for other regions among the plurality of regions.

10. A cleaning apparatus that cleans an original plate used when a pattern is transferred to a substrate, the cleaning apparatus comprising:
a region dividing unit configured to divide the original plate into a plurality of regions on the basis of information of the original plate;
a conditions generator configured to generate cleaning conditions for each of the plurality of regions such that a first cleaning condition is generated for a first region among the plurality of regions and a second cleaning condition different from the first cleaning condition is generated for a second region different from the first region among the plurality of regions; and
a cleaner configured to clean the first region of the original plate on the basis of the first cleaning condition and to clean the second region of the original plate on the basis of the second cleaning condition different from the first cleaning condition,
wherein the cleaner is configured to perform the cleaning using a plasma and includes an adjuster configured to relatively move while irradiating the original plate with the plasma to perform cleaning on the original plate and to adjust a width of irradiation with the plasma in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction in a plane.

11. The cleaning apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the original plate is a mask configured to project and transfer a pattern onto the substrate.

12. An imprint apparatus for forming a pattern in an imprinting material on a substrate using a mold, the imprint apparatus comprising:
a cleaning apparatus configured to clean the mold,
wherein the cleaning apparatus includes:
a region dividing unit configured to divide the mold into a plurality of regions on the basis of a position of a mark to be used when alignment with the substrate is performed,
a conditions generator configured to generate cleaning conditions for each of the plurality of regions such that a first cleaning condition is generated for a first region among the plurality of regions and a second cleaning condition different from the first cleaning condition is generated for a second region different from the first region among the plurality of regions, and
a cleaner configured to clean the first region of the mold on the basis of the first cleaning condition and to clean the second region of the mold on the basis of the second cleaning condition different from the first cleaning condition,
wherein the conditions generator is configured to set a strength of cleaning for a region among the plurality of regions in which the mark is positioned to be lower than strengths of cleaning for other regions among the plurality of regions.

13. A lithography apparatus that transfers a pattern to a substrate using a mask, the lithography apparatus comprising:
a cleaning apparatus configured to clean the mask,
wherein the cleaning apparatus includes:
a region dividing unit configured to divide the mask into a plurality of regions on the basis of a position of a mark to be used when alignment with the substrate is performed,
a conditions generator configured to generate cleaning conditions for each of the plurality of regions such that a first cleaning condition is generated for a first region among the plurality of regions and a second cleaning condition different from the first cleaning condition is generated for a second region different from the first region among the plurality of regions, and
a cleaner configured to clean the first region of the mask on the basis of the first cleaning condition and to clean the second region of the mask on the basis of the second c

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Ishida Shingo

Classifications

• G03F9/7096

  Arrangement, mounting, housing, environment, cleaning or maintenance of apparatus · CPC title

• G03F7/70925 Primary

  Cleaning, i.e. actively freeing apparatus from pollutants, e.g. using plasma cleaning · CPC title

• G03F7/0002 Primary

  Lithographic processes using patterning methods other than those involving the exposure to radiation, e.g. by stamping · CPC title

• H01J37/32009

  Arrangements for generation of plasma specially adapted for examination or treatment of objects, e.g. plasma sources (plasma generation in general H05H1/24) · CPC title

• G03F7/70533

  Controlling abnormal operating mode, e.g. taking account of waiting time, decision to rework or rework flow · CPC title