Substrate holding method, substrate holding apparatus, exposure apparatus and exposure method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016111318-A1
Application number	US-201314892336-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 23, 2013
Priority date	May 23, 2013
Publication date	Apr 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A wafer holding apparatus for holding a wafer including a wafer holder on which the wafer is placed; and a lift pin that is configured to be lifted up and down with respect to the wafer holder in a direction along a normal line of a placement surface of the wafer, the lift pin includes a tip part, the tip part includes: a bottom part that forms a suction region for sucking a rear surface of the wafer; and a convex part that supports the rear surface of the wafer in the suction region. When a substrate is placed on a target position, it is possible to prevent a local deterioration of flatness of the substrate even if the substrate is large.

First claim

1 . A substrate holding apparatus for holding a substrate, comprising:
a substrate holding part on which the substrate is placed; and a supporting member that is configured to be lifted up and down with respect to the substrate holding part, an end part of the supporting member including: a suction part that forms a suction region for sucking a rear surface of the substrate; and a supporting part that supports the rear surface of the substrate in the suction region.

2 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the suction part includes a wall part that surrounds the supporting part.

3 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
a plurality of supporting parts are placed in the suction region.

4 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the wall part is formed to have a rimmed shape.

5 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
the suction part includes a bottom part that is formed below an upper end of the wall part in a lift direction of the supporting member, the supporting part is placed at the bottom part.

6 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
the upper end of the wall part is below an upper end of the supporting part by 50 nm to several micrometer.

7 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
an upper end of the supporting part is formed to have a circular shape.

8 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the suction part includes: a wall part that surrounds the supporting part; and a bottom part that is formed below an upper end of the wall part in a lift direction of the supporting member, an outer shape of the wall part is a circular shape having a diameter of 5 mm to 15 mm and width of the wall part is 0.05 mm to 0.6 mm, a shape of an upper end of the supporting part is a circular shape having a diameter of 0.05 mm to 0.6 mm, the supporting member includes a bar-shaped part that is coupled to the bottom part, a cross-sectional area of the bar-shaped part along a surface that intersects a direction along the lift direction is smaller than a cross-sectional area of the outer shape of the wall part along the intersecting surface.

9 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
the supporting part is formed at the bottom part to have a truncated conical shape.

10 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein
a plurality of supporting parts are placed at the bottom part concentrically.

11 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the supporting part includes a wall-shaped member, a shape of an end surface of the wall-shaped member includes a curved shape.

12 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein
the curved shape is a circular arc shape.

13 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the supporting part includes at least one ring-like wall-shaped member.

14 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
a plurality of supporting members are placed, the plurality of supporting members are placed along a circumference of a circle having predetermined diameter.

15 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the substrate has a circular shape having a diameter of approximately 450 mm, a plurality of supporting members are placed, the plurality of supporting members are placed at the substrate holding part along a circumference of a circle having a diameter of 180 mm to 350 mm.

16 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the suction part sucks the substrate by using suction force that is caused by negative pressure.

17 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the supporting member includes: a bar-shaped part that is coupled to the end part; and a hinge part that allows the end part to incline with respect to the bar-shaped part in a lift direction.

18 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein
an opening is formed at at least one portion of the suction part and the suction part includes a bottom part that is formed below an upper end of the wall part in a lift direction of the supporting member, a passage is formed in the supporting member, a pressure in the passage can be set to negative pressure and the passage communicates with the opening.

19 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein
the supporting part is placed at the bottom part.

20 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein
a plurality of supporting parts are placed in the suction region, the plurality of supporting parts are placed around the opening concentrically.

21 . The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 18 , wherein
the supporting part is placed at the bottom part and includes at least one ring-like wall-shaped member that surrounds the opening, second opening is formed at a region of the bottom part between the wall part and the wall-shaped member, the passage communicates with the second opening.

22 . A substrate holding apparatus for holding a substrate, comprising:
a substrate holding part on which the substrate is placed; and a supporting member that is configured to be lifted up and down with respect to the substrate holding part, an end part of the supporting member including: a porous member that includes a space part and allows a pressure of at least one portion of the space part to be a negative pressure to suck a rear surface of the substrate; and a wall part that is formed to surround at least one portion of the porous member.

23 . A substrate holding apparatus for holding a substrate, comprising:
a substrate holding part on which the substrate is placed; and a supporting member that is configured to be lifted up with respect to the substrate holding part, an end part of the supporting member including: a ring-like first supporting part that supports a rear surface of the substrate; and a second supporting part that supports the rear surface of the substrate in a region surrounded by the first supporting part.

24 . An exposure apparatus that projects pattern with exposure light and exposes a substrate with the exposure light via the pattern, comprising:
the substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 for holding the substrate that is an exposed target; and a stage that moves with the substrate holding apparatus being placed thereon.

25 . A substrate holding method that uses the substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , comprising:
moving the end part of the supporting member of the substrate holding apparatus to an upside of the substrate holding part; receiving the substrate at the end part of the supporting member; sucking the substrate by the suction part; lifting down the end part of the supporting member with respect to the substrate holding part; stopping the suction of the substrate by the suction part; and delivering the wafer from the end part of the supporting member to the substrate holding part.

26 . The substrate holding method according to claim 25 , wherein
the substrate starts to be sucked to the substrate holding part when the substrate is delivered to the substrate holding part.

27 . An exposu

Assignees

• Nikon Corp

Inventors

• Ichinose Go

Classifications

• H10P72/7614

  characterised by a plurality of individual support members, e.g. support posts or protrusions · CPC title

• H10P72/78

  using vacuum or suction, e.g. Bernoulli chucks · CPC title

• H10P72/7612 Primary

  characterised by lifting arrangements, e.g. lift pins · CPC title

• H01L21/6838

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G03F7/20

  Exposure; Apparatus therefor (photographic printing apparatus for making copies G03B27/00) · CPC title