Lithography system and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12124178-B2
Application number	US-202318310483-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 1, 2023
Priority date	Oct 29, 2018
Publication date	Oct 22, 2024
Grant date	Oct 22, 2024

Abstract

A system is provided. The system includes an exposing device configured to generate a real-time image, including multiple first align marks, of a mask and an adjusting device configured to adjust an off-set of the mask from a pre-determined position to be smaller than a minimum aligning distance according to the first align marks and multiple align marks on a substrate, and further to move the mask closer to the pre-determined position to have a displacement, less than a minimum mapping distance, from the pre-determined position according to the real-time image and a reference image of the mask.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
an exposing device configured to generate a real-time image, including a plurality of first align marks, of a mask; and
an adjusting device configured to adjust an off-set of the mask from a pre-determined position to be smaller than a minimum aligning distance according to the plurality of first align marks and a plurality of align marks on a substrate, and further to move the mask closer to the pre-determined position to have a displacement, less than a minimum mapping distance, from the pre-determined position according to the real-time image and a reference image of the mask.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the reference image comprises a plurality of separate images that are captured by a camera, and the real-time image comprises a plurality of mapping marks,
wherein each of the plurality of separate images of the reference image comprises at least one of the plurality of mapping marks on the mask.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of a plurality of first mapping marks in the real-time image is mapped with at least one of a plurality of second mapping marks in the reference image.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a cleaning device configured to clean the mask based on a defective signal generated after performing moving the mask by the adjusting device.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein a maximum value of the minimum aligning distance is greater than the minimum mapping distance.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a mask stocker device configured to store the mask and to transfer the mask to the adjusting device.

7. A method, comprising:
generating, by an exposing device in a scanner device, a real-time image, including a plurality of first align marks, of a mask;
projecting, by the scanner device, the real-time image on a substrate to align the plurality of first align marks with a plurality of second align marks on the substrate;
adjusting, by an adjusting device in the scanner device, the mask to make a plurality of first mapping marks on the real-time image of the mask overlap a plurality of second mapping marks on a reference image of the mask; and
after adjusting the mask according to the first and second mapping marks, performing, by the scanner device, an exposing process.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
when the plurality of second mapping marks on the reference image are not overlapped with the plurality of first mapping marks in the real-time image,
calculating a displacement between the real-time image and the reference image based on the plurality of first mapping marks and the plurality of second mapping marks.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
acquiring the reference image of the mask, based on images captured from the plurality of first mapping marks of the mask.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein acquiring the reference image of the mask comprises:
combining the images to build the reference image,
wherein each of the plurality of first mapping marks is captured for at least one time.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein a minimum mapping scale of the operation of adjusting is different from a minimum aligning scale of the operation of aligning.

12. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
calculating a displacement between the real-time image and the reference image;
wherein adjusting the mask comprises:
adjusting a position of the mask based on the displacement and a minimum mapping distance that is pre-determined.

13. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
generating, by the scanner device, a defective signal to a clean device, to clean the mask which is defective.

14. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
capturing the plurality of first mapping marks as separate images; and
building the reference image based on the separate images.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein after adjusting the mask is closer to a pre-determined position by a displacement, the displacement being less than a minimum mapping distance.

16. A system, comprising:
an exposing device configured to generate a source light; and
an adjusting device configured to aligns a plurality of first align marks on a real-time image with a substrate, the real-time image being formed by the source light reflecting on a mask,
wherein the adjusting device is further configured to adjust, according to a displacement between the real-time image and a reference image of the mask, a position of the mask to be in a region in which the displacement is within a pre-determined range.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the source light is configured to radiate the mask to generate the real-time image.

18. The system of claim 16 , further comprising:
a tracker device configured to coat a photoresist layer on the substrate to be performed in a lithography process.

19. The system of claim 16 , further comprising:
a cleaning device configured to clean the mask based on a defective signal generated in response to the mask being defective.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the defective signal is generated after performing adjusting the position of the mask by the adjusting device.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Lan Hao-Yu
• Cheng Po-Chung
• Huang Ching-Juinn
• Fu Tzung-Chi
• Lee Tsung-Yen

Classifications

• G03F1/82

  Auxiliary processes, e.g. cleaning or inspecting · CPC title

• G03F9/7019 Primary

  Calibration · CPC title