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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9865494-B2
Application number	US-201314892336-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 23, 2013
Priority date	May 23, 2013
Publication date	Jan 9, 2018
Grant date	Jan 9, 2018

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

The invention claimed is:

1. A substrate holding apparatus for holding a substrate, the apparatus 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 for sucking a rear surface of the substrate; and
a supporting part that supports the rear surface of the substrate,
wherein the suction part includes a wall part that surrounds the supporting part.

2. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the end part of the supporting member includes a plurality of supporting parts.

3. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the wall part is formed to have a rimmed shape.

4. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , 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.

5. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein
the supporting part is formed at the bottom part to have a truncated conical shape.

6. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein
a plurality of supporting parts are placed at the bottom part concentrically.

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 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, and
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 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.

10. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein
the curved shape is a circular arc shape.

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

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

13. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the substrate has a circular shape having a diameter of approximately 450 mm, and
a 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 1 , 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, and
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.

17. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein
the supporting part is placed at the bottom part.

18. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein
the end part of the supporting member includes a plurality of supporting parts, and
the plurality of supporting parts are placed around the opening concentrically.

19. The substrate holding apparatus according to claim 16 , wherein
the supporting part is placed at the bottom part and includes at least one ring-like wall-shaped member that surrounds the opening, and
a 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.

20. An exposure apparatus that projects a 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.

21. A method of manufacturing a device, the method comprising:
forming a pattern of a photosensitive layer on a substrate by using the exposure apparatus according to claim 20 ; and
processing the substrate on which the pattern is formed.

22. 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 substrate from the end part of the supporting member to the substrate holding part.

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 looped 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 method of projecting a pattern with exposure light and exposing a substrate with the exposure light via the pattern, comprising:
holding the substrate by using the substrate holding method according to claim 22 ; and
moving the substrate to an exposure position.

25. A method of manufacturing a device, the method comprising:
forming a pattern of a photosensitive layer on a substrate by using the exposure method according to claim 24 ; and
processing the substrate on which the pattern is formed.

26. 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

Assignees

• Nippon Kogaku Kk

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

• H01L21/68742 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic