Imprint lithography

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9625811-B2
Application number	US-201013513807-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 1, 2010
Priority date	Dec 18, 2009
Publication date	Apr 18, 2017
Grant date	Apr 18, 2017

Abstract

An object provided with a particular alignment arrangement for use in aligning the object and a further object with respect to each other is disclosed. The alignment arrangement includes a first fine alignment mark in the form of a substantially regular grating, and a second coarse alignment mark located in the same area as the first alignment mark.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An object provided with an alignment arrangement for use in aligning the object and a further object with respect to each other, wherein the object is an imprint lithography template and the further object is a substrate, or the object is a substrate and the further object is an imprint lithography template, the alignment arrangement comprising:
a first fine alignment mark in the form of a substantially regular grating of a group of adjacent features having spaces therebetween, the periphery of the group of features defining an area within and the substantially regular grating being a diffraction grating; and
a second coarse alignment mark located at least partly within the area, the second coarse alignment mark forming an irregularity in the regular grating of the first fine alignment mark and comprising a non-space feature.

2. The object of claim 1 , wherein the object is an imprint lithography template.

3. The object of claim 1 , wherein the second alignment mark comprises a gap or line which has a different width than a width of a gap or line of the substantially regular grating.

4. The object of claim 1 , wherein at least part of the second alignment mark forms one or more selected from:
a missing line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
an additional line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
a thicker line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
a thinner line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
a missing or additional diagonal line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
a box in or around the substantially regular grating; and/or
an increased or reduced length line or gap in the substantially regular grating.

5. The object of claim 1 , wherein the substantially regular grating comprises of one or more selected from: lines and/or gaps having a pitch of the order of 1 μm-20 μm; and/or lines and/or gaps having a uniform period; and/or lines and/or gaps having a thickness of the order of 10 nm-100 nm.

6. The object of claim 1 , wherein the second alignment mark is fully located within the substantially regular grating.

7. The object of claim 1 , wherein the first alignment mark and/or second alignment mark is or are formed in, or formed by, or comprise, a protrusion or recess in the object.

8. The object of claim 1 , wherein the first alignment mark and/or second alignment mark comprises of a material that is opaque to electromagnetic radiation that, in use, is used to align the object with the further object.

9. The object of claim 1 , wherein the alignment mark arrangement is substantially the same as an alignment mark arrangement provided on the further object.

10. A method of aligning an object with a further object, wherein the object is an imprint lithography template and the further object is a substrate, or the object is a substrate and the further object is an imprint lithography template, and wherein the object and the further object each comprise an alignment arrangement that comprises of a first fine alignment mark in the form of a substantially regular grating of a group of adjacent features having spaces therebetween, the periphery of the group of features defining an area within and the substantially regular grating being a diffraction grating; and a second coarse alignment mark located at least partly within the area, the second coarse alignment mark forming an irregularity in the regular grating of the first fine alignment mark and comprising a non-space feature, the method comprising:
undertaking a relatively coarse alignment of the object and the further object using the second coarse alignment marks; and
undertaking a relatively fine alignment of the object and the further object using the first fine alignment marks.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the coarse alignment is undertaken using a camera or a radiation intensity measurement.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the fine alignment is undertaken using a diffraction based technique.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second coarse alignment mark comprises a gap or line which has a different width than a width of a gap or line of the substantially regular grating.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein at least part of the second coarse alignment mark forms one or more selected from:
a missing line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
an additional line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
a thicker line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
a thinner line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
a missing or additional diagonal line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
a box in or around the substantially regular grating; and/or
an increased or reduced length line or gap in the substantially regular grating.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second coarse alignment mark is fully located within the substantially regular grating.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second coarse alignment mark comprises a gap or line which has a different width than a width of a gap or line of the substantially regular grating.

17. The method of claim 10 , wherein the substantially regular grating comprises of one or more selected from: lines and/or gaps having a pitch of the order of 1 μm-20 μm; and/or lines and/or gaps having a uniform period; and/or lines and/or gaps having a thickness of the order of 10 nm-100 nm.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first alignment mark and/or second alignment mark comprises of a material that is opaque to electromagnetic radiation that, in use, is used to align the object with the further object.

19. An imprint template comprising an alignment arrangement to perform alignment between the imprint template and a substrate, the alignment arrangement comprising:
a first alignment mark in the form of a substantially regular grating of a group of adjacent features having spaces therebetween, the periphery of the group of features defining an area within, the substantially regular grating being a diffraction grating, and the first alignment mark configured for fine alignment; and
a second alignment mark located at least partly within the area, the second alignment mark configured for coarse alignment, forming an irregularity in the regular grating of the first fine alignment mark and not being interleaved among the features of the first fine alignment mark.

20. The imprint template of claim 19 , wherein at least part of the second alignment mark forms one or more selected from:
a missing line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
an additional line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
a thicker line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
a thinner line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
a missing or additional diagonal line in the substantially regular grating; and/or
a box in or around the substantially regular grating; and/or
an increased or reduced length line or gap in the substantially regular grating.

Assignees

• Wuister Sander Frederik
• Den Boef Arie Jeffrey
• Kruijt-Stegeman Yvonne Wendela
• Asml Netherlands Bv

Inventors

• Wuister Sander Frederik
• Den Boef Arie Jeffrey
• Kruijt-Stegeman Yvonne Wendela

Classifications

• B82Y40/00

  Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures · CPC title

• G03F7/0002 Primary

  Lithographic processes using patterning methods other than those involving the exposure to radiation, e.g. by stamping · CPC title

• G03F9/00

  Registration or positioning of originals, masks, frames, photographic sheets or textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. automatically (G03F7/22 takes precedence; preparation of photographic masks G03F1/00; within photographic printing apparatus for making copies G03B27/00) · CPC title

• B82Y10/00

  Nanotechnology for information processing, storage or transmission, e.g. quantum computing or single electron logic · CPC title

• Y10T428/24479

  including variation in thickness · CPC title