Method of cleaning wafer table of photolithography system and method of manufacturing integrated circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12210296-B2
Application number	US-202418598415-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 7, 2024
Priority date	Aug 30, 2021
Publication date	Jan 28, 2025
Grant date	Jan 28, 2025

Abstract

In a method of cleaning a lithography system, during idle mode, a stream of air is directed, through a first opening, into a chamber of a wafer table of an EUV lithography system. One or more particles is extracted by the directed stream of air from surfaces of one or more wafer chucks in the chamber of the wafer table. The stream of air and the extracted one or more particle are drawn, through a second opening, out of the chamber of the wafer table.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of cleaning a wafer table of a photolithography system, comprising:
blowing a stream of gas including a vaporized solvent through an opening of the wafer table and contacting the stream of gas with one or more surfaces within an interior of the wafer table;
extracting the gas through an exhaust of the wafer table;
filtering the extracted gas;
determining at least one of an amount of particles in the filtered gas or an amount of organic material in the filtered gas; and
when the amount of particles in the filtered gas is determined, recycling the filtered gas for blowing through the opening of the wafer table if the amount of particles is below a first threshold value, and refiltering the filtered gas if the amount of particles is above the first threshold value, or
when the amount of organic material in the filtered gas is determined, recycling the filtered gas for blowing through the opening of the wafer table if the amount of organic material is below a second threshold value, and refiltering the filtered gas if the amount of organic material is above the second threshold value.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more surfaces comprise one or more wafer stages.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the opening is located lateral to the one or more wafer stages.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises blowing the stream of gas through another opening above the one or more wafer stages.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the opening is located above the one or more wafer stages.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more surfaces further comprise a wafer handling robot.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the filtering the extracted gas incudes passing the extracted gas through a series of stages comprising a first stage, a second stage, and a third stage, the first and third stages comprising particle filtration and the second stage comprising organic material filtration.

8. A method of cleaning a wafer table of a photolithography system, comprising:
feeding gas from a gas storage through a plurality of nozzles and into an interior of the wafer table;
contacting the gas with one or more surfaces within the interior of the wafer table;
extracting the gas through an exhaust of the wafer table;
filtering the extracted gas;
determining at least one of an amount of particles in the filtered gas or an amount of organic material in the filtered gas; and
when the amount of particles in the filtered gas is determined, recycling the filtered gas to the gas storage if the amount of particles is below a first threshold value, and refiltering the filtered gas if the amount of particles is above the first threshold value, or
when the amount of organic material in the filtered gas is determined, recycling the filtered gas to the gas storage if the amount of organic material is below a second threshold value, and refiltering the filtered gas if the amount of organic material is above the second threshold value.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a first set of nozzles of the plurality of nozzles is positioned above the one or more surfaces and a second set of nozzles of the plurality of nozzles is positioned lateral to the one or more surfaces.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising changing directions from which the gas is fed from the first and second sets of nozzles to sweep the interior of the wafer table.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the one or more surfaces comprise one or more wafer stages and a wafer handling robot.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the filtering the extracted gas incudes passing the extracted gas through a series of stages comprising a first stage, a second stage, and a third stage, the first and third stages comprising particle filtration and the second stage comprising organic material filtration.

13. A method of cleaning a wafer table of a photolithography system, comprising:
circulating gas through the wafer table to contact the gas with one or more surfaces on an interior of the wafer table;
filtering the gas after circulation through the wafer table;
determining an amount of particles in the filtered gas and an amount of organic material in the filtered gas;
when the amount of particles in the filtered gas is determined, recycling the filtered gas for circulation through the wafer table if the amount of particles is below a first threshold value, and refiltering the filtered gas if the amount of particles is above the first threshold value, and
when the amount of organic material in the filtered gas is determined, recycling the filtered gas for circulation through the wafer table if the amount of organic material is below a second threshold value, and refiltering the filtered gas if the amount of organic material is above the second threshold value.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein circulating the gas through the wafer table comprises sweeping the interior of the wafer table with a fan-shaped stream of the gas.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the gas is circulated through the wafer table by a plurality of nozzles.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising changing a direction in which the gas is circulated in the wafer table by moving the plurality of nozzles.

17. The method of claim 13 , wherein the filtering the gas incudes passing the gas through a series of stages comprising a first stage, a second stage, and a third stage, the first and third stages comprising particle filtration and the second stage comprising organic material filtration.

18. The method of claim 13 , wherein the one or more surfaces comprise one or more wafer stages and a wafer handling robot.

19. The method of claim 13 , further comprising detecting particles in the gas before filtering the gas.

20. A method of manufacturing an integrated circuit comprising:
performing the method of claim 13 and then exposing a layer of photoresist formed on a wafer to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation, the wafer being positioned within the wafer table and the EUV radiation passing through an aperture of the wafer table.

Assignees

• Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg Co Ltd

Inventors

• Tu Shih-Yu
• Wang Shao-Hua
• Liu Yen-Hao
• Kuo Chueh-Chi
• Chen Li-Jui
• Liu Heng-Hsin

Classifications

• G03F7/7085

  Detection arrangement, e.g. detectors of apparatus alignment possibly mounted on wafers, exposure dose, photo-cleaning flux, stray light, thermal load · CPC title

• G03F7/70933

  Purge, e.g. exchanging fluid or gas to remove pollutants · CPC title

• G03F7/70916

  Pollution mitigation, i.e. mitigating effect of contamination or debris, e.g. foil traps · CPC title

• G03F7/70925 Primary

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

• G03F7/70908 Primary

  Hygiene, e.g. preventing apparatus pollution, mitigating effect of pollution or removing pollutants from apparatus · CPC title