Measurement system, substrate processing system, and device manufacturing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11274919-B2
Application number	US-201916279639-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 19, 2019
Priority date	Aug 24, 2016
Publication date	Mar 15, 2022
Grant date	Mar 15, 2022

Abstract

A measurement system to be used in a micro-device manufacturing line is equipped with: a plurality of measurement devices which performs measurement processing on each substrate; and a controller that can control the plurality of measurement devices, and the plurality of measurement devices includes at least one first measurement device which acquires position information of a plurality of marks formed on a substrate.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A measurement system used in a manufacturing line for micro-devices, the measurement system comprising:
a plurality of measurement devices being separate from and outside of any exposure apparatus used in the manufacturing line, each of the plurality of measurement devices performing measurement processing on a substrate;
a carrying system used to perform delivery of the substrate;
a carrier system that has at least one carrier mounting section capable of mounting a carrier configured to contain a plurality of substrates, the carrier system being provided separately from any exposure apparatus and the carrying system; and
a controller configured to control the plurality of measurement devices, wherein
the plurality of measurement devices includes a first measurement device and a second measurement device both of which are a same type of measurement device and are configured to perform plural types of measurement processing on the substrate, the first measurement device acquires position information of a plurality of marks formed on the substrate and the second measurement device performs measurement of a different type from the measurement performed by the first measurement device on the substrate to acquire information different from the position information acquired by the first measurement device, and
the carrying system performs the delivery of the substrate between the first and the second measurement devices so that the first and the second measurement devices perform measurement to the same substrate in series and also perform the delivery of the substrate to and from the carrier system.

2. The measurement system according to claim 1 , wherein
the carrier system has a plurality of the carrier mounting sections arranged along a first direction, and
the plurality of measurement devices is arranged along a second direction that intersects the first direction.

3. The measurement system according to claim 1 , wherein
the first measurement device acquires the position information of the plurality of marks formed on the substrate on which substrate processing of at least one of resist coating before exposure, developing after exposure, cleaning, oxidation/diffusion, film deposition, etching, ion implantation, and CMP has been performed.

4. The measurement system according to claim 1 , wherein
the second measurement device is configured to measure flatness information of a surface of the substrate, and
the first measurement device and the second measurement device sequentially perform measurement of the position information of the plurality of marks and measurement of the flatness information of the surface of the substrate, with the same substrate serving as a measurement target.

5. The measurement system according to claim 1 , wherein
the first measurement device acquires the position information of the plurality of marks formed on the substrate on which exposure and developing processing have been performed.

6. The measurement system according to claim 5 , wherein
the plurality of marks is formed on a first layer on the substrate.

7. The measurement system according to claim 6 , wherein
information that is obtained based on the position information of the plurality of marks acquired using the first measurement device is output.

8. The measurement system according to claim 7 , wherein
the information that is output includes arrangement information of a plurality of divided areas formed on the substrate along with the plurality of marks.

9. The measurement system according to claim 7 , wherein
the information that is output is provided to an exposure apparatus used for exposure of the first layer.

10. The measurement system according to claim 6 , wherein
the position information of the plurality of marks on the substrate acquired using the first measurement device is output.

11. The measurement system according to claim 10 , wherein
the position information that is output is provided to an exposure apparatus used for exposure of the first layer.

12. The measurement system according to claim 5 , wherein
the plurality of marks include a plurality of marks formed on an mth layer (m is an integral number of 1 or more) and a plurality of marks formed on an nth layer (n is an integral number of 2 or more and is larger than m) of the substrate.

13. The measurement system according to claim 12 , wherein
each of the position information of the plurality of marks formed on the mth layer and the position information of the plurality of marks formed on the nth layer is output.

14. The measurement system according to claim 12 , wherein
information obtained based on the position information of the plurality of marks formed on the mth layer and the position information of the plurality of marks formed on the nth layer is output.

15. The measurement system according to claim 14 , wherein
the plurality of marks formed on the mth layer includes a first mark, and the plurality of marks formed on the nth layer includes a second mark corresponding to the first mark, and
the information that is output includes information related to positional displacement between the first mark and the second mark.

16. The measurement system according to claim 14 , wherein
the information that is output includes information related to overlay displacement between the mth layer and the nth layer.

17. The measurement system according to claim 16 , wherein
a determination is made of whether the overlay displacement is caused mainly by the mth layer or the nth layer, based on the position information of the plurality of marks formed on the mth layer and the position information of the plurality of marks formed on the nth layer.

18. The measurement system according to claim 5 , wherein
acquiring the position information using the first measurement device is performed before substrate processing that is conducted after the developing processing is performed on the substrate.

19. The measurement system according to claim 18 , wherein
the substrate processing includes etching processing.

20. The measurement system according to claim 18 , wherein
the substrate processing includes film deposition processing.

21. The measurement system according to claim 1 , wherein
the first measurement device comprises:
a stage that is movable and configured to hold the substrate;
a drive system that moves the stage;
a first position measurement system configured to acquire position information of the stage; and
a mark detection system that detects a mark formed on the substrate, wherein
the controller controls movement of the stage by the drive system and detects each of the plurality of marks formed on the substrate using the mark detection system, and obtains an absolute position coordinate of each of the plurality of marks, based on detection results of each of the plurality of marks and position information of the stage obtained using the first position measurement system at a time of detection of each of the plurality of marks.

22. The measurement system according to claim 21 , wherein
the first position measurement system is configured to acquire the position information of the stage in at least directions of three degrees of freedom.

23. The measurement system according to claim 21 , wherein
the first position measurement system has one of a measurement surface having a grating section and a head section which irradiates

Assignees

• Nikon Corp

Inventors

• Ichinose Go
• Shibazaki Yuichi

Classifications

• G03F7/70775 Primary

  Position control, e.g. interferometers or encoders for determining the stage position · CPC title

• H10P72/50

  for positioning, orientation or alignment · CPC title

• H10P72/57

  Mask-wafer alignment · CPC title

• G01B2210/56

  Measuring geometric parameters of semiconductor structures, e.g. profile, critical dimensions or trench depth · CPC title

• G03F7/2041

  in the presence of a fluid, e.g. immersion; using fluid cooling means · CPC title