Laser processing system and laser processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11465233-B2
Application number	US-201916378102-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2019
Priority date	Nov 29, 2016
Publication date	Oct 11, 2022
Grant date	Oct 11, 2022

Abstract

A laser processing system includes: a wavelength-variable laser device configured to output each of a laser beam at an absorption line as a wavelength at which light is absorbed by oxygen and a laser beam at a non-absorption line as a wavelength at which the amount of light absorption by oxygen is smaller than at the absorption line; an optical system configured to irradiate a workpiece with the laser beam; and a laser control unit configured to control the wavelength-variable laser device, set the wavelength of the laser beam output from the wavelength-variable laser device to be the non-absorption line when laser processing is performed on the surface of the workpiece in gas containing oxygen, and set the wavelength of the laser beam output from the wavelength-variable laser device to be the absorption line when ozone cleaning is performed on the surface of the workpiece in gas containing oxygen.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laser processing system configured to perform laser processing by irradiating a workpiece with a laser beam, the laser processing system comprising:
A. a wavelength-variable laser device configured to output each of a laser beam at an absorption line as a wavelength at which light is absorbed by oxygen and a laser beam at a non-absorption line as a wavelength at which an amount of light absorption by oxygen is smaller than at the absorption line;
B. an optical system configured to irradiate the workpiece with the laser beam; and
C. a laser control unit configured to control the wavelength-variable laser device, set a wavelength of the laser beam output from the wavelength-variable laser device to be the non-absorption line when the laser processing is performed on a surface of the workpiece in gas containing oxygen, and set the wavelength of the laser beam output from the wavelength-variable laser device to be the absorption line when ozone cleaning is performed on the surface of the workpiece in gas containing oxygen.

2. The laser processing system according to claim 1 , wherein the ozone cleaning includes debris cleaning of removing debris from the surface of the workpiece after the laser processing.

3. The laser processing system according to claim 2 , wherein the ozone cleaning further includes surface cleaning of removing an adhering object on the surface of the workpiece before the laser processing.

4. The laser processing system according to claim 1 , wherein the laser beam is an ArF excimer laser beam.

5. The laser processing system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
D: an irradiation-area-changing mechanism configured to change irradiation area of the laser beam emitted from the optical system on the surface of the workpiece; and
E: a laser processing control unit configured to control the irradiation-area-changing mechanism so that the irradiation area in the ozone cleaning is larger than the irradiation area in the laser processing.

6. The laser processing system according to claim 1 , wherein the wavelength-variable laser device includes a master oscillator, and an amplifier configured to amplify the laser beam output from the master oscillator.

7. The laser processing system according to claim 1 , wherein the laser control unit changes energy of the laser beam between the laser processing and the ozone cleaning.

8. The laser processing system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
F: an attenuator configured to change the energy of the laser beam by changing transmittance for the laser beam output from the wavelength-variable laser device.

9. The laser processing system according to claim 1 , further comprising:
G: a shield enclosing the workpiece; and
H: a gas supply inlet through which the gas containing oxygen is supplied inside the shield.

10. The laser processing system according to claim 9 , further comprising:
I: an exhaust device configured to exhaust gas inside the shield by suction.

Assignees

• Gigaphoton Inc

Inventors

• Kakizaki Kouji
• Wakabayashi Osamu

Classifications

• B23K26/126

  in an atmosphere of gases chemically reacting with the workpiece · CPC title

• B23K26/16

  Removal of by-products, e.g. particles or vapours produced during treatment of a workpiece (by a fluid stream B23K26/142) · CPC title

• B23K26/064

  by means of optical elements, e.g. lenses, mirrors or prisms · CPC title

• B23K2101/40

  Semiconductor devices · CPC title

• B23K2103/56

  being semiconducting · CPC title