JPH11233396A - Manufacture of semiconductor device and aligner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform at low running expense photolithography by using exposure light which has wavelength in the vacuum ultraviolet region. SOLUTION: An excitation beam K1 (wavelength of 248 nm) from a KrF excimer laser 101 is partially reflected by a beam splitter 110 and excites a dye laser oscillator 102. The dye laser oscillator 102 narrows the band by an etalon 116, a narrowed band laser beam L1 having a wavelength of 386 nm is extracted from the dye laser oscillator 102, and it enters a nonlinear optical crystal 117 of a wavelength conversion part 104 through a dye laser amplifier 103. Thus, a laser beam L3 having a wavelength of 193 nm, i.e., the second higher harmonic waves, is generated, injected into an injection synchronous type ArF excimer laser 105 as a seed beam, and an exposure light L4, which has a power required for exposure and has a narrowed band wavelength of 193 nm, is generated in the ArF excimer laser 105, without the use of a band- narrowed element.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a semiconductor device manufacturing technique and an exposure technique, and more particularly to a technique which is effective when applied to a technique using ultraviolet light having a wavelength in a vacuum ultraviolet region as exposure light for photolithography.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There are various types of performance required for an exposure apparatus (sometimes called a stepper) as a photolithography technique, such as resolution, alignment accuracy, processing ability, and apparatus reliability. Among them, the resolution R directly leading to the miniaturization of the pattern is R = k · λ / N
A (k: constant, λ: exposure wavelength, NA: numerical aperture of the projection lens). Therefore, in order to obtain good resolution, the optical parameter called the exposure wavelength λ is an important factor.

In a conventional exposure apparatus, a g-line (wavelength: 435 nm) or an i-line (wavelength: 365 nm) of a mercury lamp is mainly used.
Has been used as an exposure light source, but a KrF excimer laser having a wavelength of 248 nm has come to be used as an exposure light source having a shorter wavelength to realize a finer processing line width. An exposure apparatus using a KrF excimer laser as a light source is hereinafter referred to as a KrF exposure machine.

As the performance required of a KrF excimer laser as an exposure light source, it is necessary to narrow the wavelength width of the oscillating laser light (hereinafter, referred to as narrowing the band). The reason is to suppress chromatic aberration of the reduction projection lens of the exposure apparatus. To achieve this, a KrF excimer laser uses a wavelength narrowing element. Actually, it is necessary to narrow the band to about 0.8 pm.

As an exposure light source for performing finer processing as next-generation photolithography, a wavelength of 1
The use of an exposure apparatus using a 93 nm ArF excimer laser (generally called an ArF exposure machine) is also being studied. As a technical problem of the ArF exposure machine, the wavelength 193n
In the case of m, the wavelength dispersion in the quartz glass becomes larger than the wavelength of 248 nm, so that it is difficult to configure the exposure lens with a monochromatic lens made of only quartz. Therefore, the use of an achromatic lens has been studied. However, the required wavelength width is still about 1 pm or less, and a narrow band equivalent to that of a KrF excimer laser for exposure is required. Regarding this, for example, OPTRONICS, 1997, N
o. 9, page 106 to page 111.

On the other hand, when an integrated circuit having a particularly large area is manufactured by using an exposure apparatus, a scan type exposure apparatus (also called a scanner) for exposing while moving a reticle on which a circuit pattern is drawn and a wafer is moved. ) May be used. In a scan type KrF exposure machine,
In order to move the exposed portion on the wafer while irradiating the laser light of the KrF excimer laser as the exposure light, the pulse stability of the laser light needs to be high. That is, if the pulse energy has a large variation, it is necessary to irradiate a large number of pulses to the same portion and increase the energy of the integrated laser beam to make the exposure energy uniform, thereby increasing the scanning speed. Because it cannot be taken high. In addition, regarding the scan type exposure machine, for example,
Electronic Materials, March 1995, pp. 107-111.

[0007]

In an ArF excimer laser for exposure, it is more difficult to narrow the band than in a KrF excimer laser, and when the band is narrowed to about 1 pm, the laser output is greatly reduced. . In addition, there is a problem that the band-narrowing element used in the exposure ArF excimer laser is deteriorated in a shorter time than in the case of the KrF excimer laser. A narrow band element for an ArF excimer laser may use a material such as calcium fluoride, which is more expensive than that of a KrF excimer laser. Because it becomes. The reason is that the wavelength of the ArF excimer laser beam 19
Since 3 nm is in the vacuum ultraviolet region, generally, the absorption rate of many optical materials is high. This is because the band-narrowing element itself absorbs the oscillated laser light and causes damage in a short period of time.

[0010] The ArF excimer laser is composed of an oscillator and an amplifier. The oscillator can be made sufficiently narrow and the amplifier can increase the laser output. This is sometimes called an oscillation amplifier. In some cases, another amplifier is provided instead of the amplifier, and a laser beam from the first oscillator is injected into the second oscillator. This is a configuration called injection locking,
The laser light of the first-stage oscillator that is injected into the second-stage oscillator may be called seed light. In the case of these oscillation amplifiers and injection locking, it is possible to achieve both narrowing of the band and high power. However, the band narrowing element required for the oscillator also has a wavelength of 193.
Since the vacuum ultraviolet light of nm directly passes, it may deteriorate in a short period of time. In addition, regarding the injection locking of the ArF excimer laser, for example, for example, the 41st Federation of Applied Physics-related Lectures, Proceedings, p. 928, 29a-E-1,
It was described in 1994.

A second problem of the ArF exposure apparatus is that an exposure ArF excimer laser is usually
Since the variation of the pulse energy is larger than that of the F excimer laser, the scan type ArF exposure device
It becomes necessary to irradiate the same portion with exposure light of a larger number of pulses. Therefore, the scanning speed cannot be increased, and the throughput decreases.

As described above, in the scan type ArF exposure apparatus, it is desired that the pulse energy of the exposure light has a small variation. However, when the injection synchronization of the above-described ArF excimer laser is used as the light source, In some cases, variation in pulse energy was increased. That is, in the injection locking, the pulse energy variation of the exposure light may become large due to the amplification of the pulse energy variation of the seed light.

An object of the present invention is to provide a low running cost,
An object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device manufacturing technique capable of performing pattern transfer by photolithography using exposure light having a wavelength in a vacuum ultraviolet region.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device capable of transferring a pattern by scanning photolithography at a high throughput by using exposure light having a wavelength in a vacuum ultraviolet region having a small variation in pulse energy. The present invention is to provide a manufacturing technology.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an exposure technique capable of performing stable exposure with low energy fluctuation of exposure light at low running cost.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an exposure technique capable of improving the throughput in scanning exposure.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an exposure technique capable of realizing low cost and long life of an exposure optical system.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an exposure technique capable of manufacturing a large number of semiconductor devices at low cost.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

[0018]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, the outline of a representative one will be briefly described.
It is as follows.

That is, according to the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device using photolithography in which a desired pattern on the exposure master is transferred to a semiconductor wafer with exposure light passing through the exposure master. One or more first lasers output from the first laser generator provided with the banding means are converted into a second laser having a shorter wavelength by the wavelength converting means, and the obtained second laser is obtained. 2 is input to the injection-locked second laser generator as the seed light, and the third laser output from the second laser generator is input to the second laser generator.
Is used as the exposure light.

According to the present invention, in an exposure apparatus including an exposure light source for generating exposure light and an exposure optical system for irradiating the exposure light to an object to be exposed via a reticle, the exposure light source may have a narrow band. First laser generator for outputting one or a plurality of narrowed first lasers provided with a wavelength converting means, and wavelength converting means for converting the first laser into a second laser having a shorter wavelength And a second laser generation unit that includes an injection-locked second laser generation unit that operates using the second laser as seed light and that outputs a third laser.

More specifically, as an example, as a light source of an exposure apparatus such as an ArF exposure apparatus, a narrow band wavelength 19 is used.
Injection-locked ArF using 3 nm laser light as seed light
Using an excimer laser and using KrF
A harmonic obtained by wavelength conversion of a dye laser using an excimer laser or a XeCl excimer laser as an excitation light source (hereinafter referred to as a KrF excimer laser excitation dye laser), or an Nd: YLF laser using a semiconductor laser as an excitation light source (hereinafter referred to as semiconductor excitation). A wavelength conversion based on a solid-state laser such as a Nd: YLF laser is used. In the present invention, an exposure apparatus that simply uses exposure light having a wavelength of 193 nm regardless of the configuration of an ArF excimer laser is referred to as an ArF exposure apparatus.

In a semiconductor laser, the wavelength of laser light changes depending on the temperature of the semiconductor laser. On the other hand, in a solid-state laser, the absorption spectrum of a generally used crystal greatly changes depending on the wavelength. Therefore, in the present invention, the temperature of a semiconductor laser that excites a solid-state laser such as an Nd: YLF laser is controlled. As a result, the solid-state laser crystal can be always excited with the same intensity regardless of the ambient temperature change, so that seed light of stable energy is generated, and this seed light is used as the seed light of the injection-locked ArF excimer laser. Can be used as

Further, as the harmonic obtained by wavelength-converting the dye laser, a second harmonic of laser light extracted from the dye laser is used. Alternatively,
At least two dye lasers are used and the sum frequency of the second harmonic of the laser light from one dye laser and the laser light from the other dye laser is used.

Alternatively, the wavelength conversion based on the first solid-state laser such as the Nd: YLF laser is as follows.
The fourth harmonic of the Nd: YLF laser and the Nd: Y
It uses the sum frequency with the laser light of a second solid-state laser such as a titanium sapphire laser using the second harmonic of the LF laser as an excitation light source.

By the way, in a general dye laser using a dye cell, when a laser beam of an excimer laser (that is, excitation light) is irradiated from a lateral direction orthogonal to the laser beam, a KrF excimer laser is used. When used as an excitation light source, the excitation light is strongly absorbed in the dye solution because it has a shorter wavelength than a 308 nm wavelength XeCl excimer laser generally used for excitation of the dye laser. As a result, the absorption length in the dye solution is shortened, and the excitation light cannot penetrate the entire dye solution in the dye cell,
Laser oscillation becomes difficult. Accordingly, the dye solution used in the dye laser oscillator of the present invention is circulated by a jet method.

The dye laser or the Nd: YL
In order to narrow the band of the harmonics obtained by wavelength conversion of the F laser, the dye laser and the Nd: YLF laser may be narrowed. However, since all of them have a wavelength of about 386 nm or more, the wavelength is higher than that of 193 nm. The band-narrowing element is much longer and hardly deteriorates, and the life thereof is significantly longer than that of the band-narrowing element arranged in the resonator of the ArF excimer laser.

Further, the stability of the pulse energy of the exposure light obtained from the exposure light source of the present invention depends on the energy stability of the seed light because the injection locking configuration is adopted in the present invention. . That is, it depends on the energy stability of the laser which is the base of the system for generating the seed light. Therefore, in the present invention, Kr
It depends on the energy stability of the F excimer laser or Nd: YLF laser.

By the way, it is known that the KrF excimer laser or the XeCl excimer laser constituting the first laser generator has a smaller variation in laser energy than the ArF excimer laser constituting the second laser generator. I have. For example, it is reported that the energy variation of a KrF excimer laser or a XeCl excimer laser is about 7% (3σ value) or less, while that of an ArF excimer laser is about 10%.

Therefore, A with large energy variation
A laser obtained from a KrF excimer laser or a XeCl excimer laser having a smaller energy variation as in the present invention than the case where an rF excimer laser is used alone as an exposure light source is used as an injection-locked ArF excimer laser as a seed light. In the configuration of inputting to the second laser generator, the pulse energy of the exposure light obtained from the second laser generator such as an ArF excimer laser is more stable.

In a solid-state laser such as an Nd: YLF laser, it is known that the stability of pulse energy can be increased by using a normal high-power semiconductor laser as an excitation light source. The reason is that the change in the absorptivity around 803 nm, which is the oscillation wavelength of a normal high-power semiconductor laser, is smaller than that of, for example, an Nd: YAG laser. This is because the influence on the excitation of Nd: YLF is small. Therefore, fluctuations in laser energy due to fluctuations in room temperature can be reduced.

In the case of a KrF excimer laser-excited dye laser, a wavelength of about 34 nm is obtained by changing the type of dye.
It is known that the laser oscillation wavelength can be determined almost continuously from 0 nm to about 1 μm. That is, a wavelength of about 3
Since the laser beam can be oscillated at 86 nm, its second harmonic can generate a wavelength of 193 nm and can be used as seed light of an ArF excimer laser.

Similarly, by using at least two dye lasers, the sum frequency of the second harmonic of one dye laser and the laser light of the other dye laser also has a wavelength of 193.
nm.

Since the second harmonic of the first solid-state laser comprising the Nd: YLF laser is green light having a wavelength of about 524 nm, the second harmonic such as a titanium sapphire laser is used.
Can be excited. Since this titanium sapphire laser can operate at an arbitrary wavelength ranging from about 700 nm to 900 nm, the wavelength is about 740 nm.
Laser oscillation. On the other hand, since the fourth harmonic of the Nd: YLF laser has a wavelength of about 262 nm, seed light having a wavelength of 193 nm can be generated by the sum frequency of the laser light having a wavelength of about 740 nm and the laser light having a wavelength of about 262 nm.

Further, K, which is an excitation light source of the dye laser,
As the rF excimer laser, a KrF excimer laser of a KrF exposure machine which has become unnecessary one generation ago can be used as an exposure machine.

When the dye solution is circulated by the jet method, the thickness of the dye solution can be easily reduced to 1 mm or less. Therefore, even if the absorption length of the excitation light is short, the excitation region and the laser light passage region are small. It is easy to match with.

When the ArF excimer laser is composed of an unstable resonator, the extracted laser beam has a ring-shaped beam cross section. Therefore, if this laser beam is used, no special optical system is used. Even so, this means that annular illumination is applied, and higher resolution can be realized.

[0037]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a configuration of an exposure light source used in a semiconductor device manufacturing method and an exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The exposure light source 100
It is roughly composed of a KrF excimer laser 101, a dye laser oscillator 102, a dye laser amplifier 103, a wavelength converter 104, an ArF excimer laser 105, and a pulse synchronizer 107.

The laser light K1 (hereinafter referred to as excitation light) having a wavelength of 248 nm extracted from the KrF excimer laser 101 strikes the beam splitter 110a, and about 30% of its power is reflected here, and the reflected excitation light K2 Goes to the dye laser oscillator 102 and is used as the excitation light. The dye laser oscillator 102 has an output mirror 113
And the diffraction grating 114 constitute a resonator. The excitation light K2 passes through the lens 112a and passes through the dye laser oscillator 10
The light is focused on the dye solution 115a, which is the second laser medium. As a result, the dye laser oscillator 102 oscillates, and the laser beam L1 is extracted from the output mirror 113 to the outside of the resonator.

A dye such as BBQ is suitable for the dye solution 115a.
Laser operation is possible at 0 to 390 nm. This is described, for example, by Osamu Uchino and three others in “XeCl Laser Excited High Efficiency Dye Laser”, Vol. 6, No. 4, March 1979, pp. 57-59. Therefore, the dye laser oscillator 102 is set to oscillate at a wavelength of 386 nm by the diffraction grating 114 here.

In the dye laser oscillator 102, an etalon 116, which is a band narrowing element, is inserted in the resonator, so that the laser oscillates in a narrow band having a wavelength width of about 0.2 pm.

The laser light L1 extracted from the dye laser oscillator 102 hits the beam splitter 110b,
Here, the power of about several percent is reflected, and the wavelength monitor 10
In step 6, the wavelength and the wavelength width are monitored.

The laser light L1 having passed through the beam splitter 110b is applied to the dye solution 11 in the dye laser amplifier 103.
5b. Note that the dye solutions 115a, 115b
Are circulated in a thin film form in a direction perpendicular to the plane of FIG.

On the other hand, of the excitation light K1 extracted from the KrF excimer laser 101, the beam splitter 110a
The excitation light K3 having a power of about 70% transmitted through
The light is reflected by 1a, advances to the dye laser amplifier 103, passes through the lens 112b, and is focused on the dye solution 115b. As a result, the laser light L1 is amplified and a laser light L2 is obtained. The laser light L2 advances into the wavelength conversion unit 104, passes through the lens 112c, and is focused in the nonlinear optical crystal 117. Thereby, the wavelength 193 nm, which is the second harmonic, is obtained.
Is emitted, and exits the wavelength conversion unit 104 through the lens 112d.

As the nonlinear optical crystal 117, a material capable of generating a wavelength of 193 nm with the second harmonic, such as a Sr ₂ Be ₂ B ₂ O ₇ crystal (abbreviated as SBBO), is suitable. For SBBO, for example, NA
TURE, Vol. 373, No. 26, 1995, 32
This is described on pages 2 to 324. Note that the wavelength width of the laser light L3 is about 0.1 pm, which is half the wavelength width of the laser light L2.

This laser beam L 3 is reflected by the reflecting mirrors 111 b and 111 c and injected into the ArF excimer laser 105. That is, the laser light L3 becomes the seed light of the ArF excimer laser 105. Therefore, the laser light L4 extracted from the ArF excimer laser 105 is
The wavelength and the wavelength width are equivalent to the laser light L3 as the seed light, and only the power is increased. That is, the laser light L4 is a DUV light having a sufficiently narrow wavelength width of 0.1 pm and a wavelength of 193 nm, and is used as exposure light.

Here, the structure of the ArF excimer laser 105 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, in the ArF excimer laser 105, the laser tube 120
An output mirror 121 and a reflecting mirror 122 with holes are disposed on both sides of the output mirror 121, and a small convex mirror 123 is disposed inside the output mirror 121. The laser light L3, which is the seed light, travels through the hole of the holed reflecting mirror 122 into the laser tube 120, is reflected by the convex mirror 123, travels again inside the laser tube 120, is reflected by the holed reflecting mirror 122, Further, the laser beam travels through the laser tube 120 again and is taken out from the output mirror 121. Therefore, in the ArF excimer laser 105, no band-narrowing element is used. Note that the resonator configuration of the ArF excimer laser 105 shown in FIG. 6 is generally called an unstable resonator, and the laser light extracted from the output mirror 121 has a hollow ring shape. The size of the ring shape depends on the diameter of the convex mirror 123 and the size of the reflecting mirror 122 with a hole.
By appropriately setting the curvature or the like, it is possible to arbitrarily conform to the specification of the annular illumination required by the reduction projection optical system in the exposure apparatus described later.

When operating the ArF excimer laser 105, it is necessary to synchronize the laser oscillation timing with the KrF excimer laser 101. Therefore, the KrF excimer laser 101 and the ArF excimer laser 105 are controlled by the pulse synchronizer 107. ing.

As described above, in the present invention, the wavelength width of the exposure light is determined by the dye laser oscillator 102, in which the diffraction grating 114 and the etalon 116, which are band narrowing elements, are provided.
Is used, the DUV light L4 is also narrowed.

That is, even if the ArF excimer laser 105 does not use a band-narrowing element, the extracted DU
The V light L4 is narrowed. On the contrary,
In a conventional ArF excimer laser oscillator for exposure, FIG.
As can be seen from the configuration diagram of the ArF excimer laser oscillator 600 shown in FIG. 7, a resonator is formed by the output mirror 602 and the diffraction grating 603 disposed so as to sandwich the laser tube 601, and the DUV light L 601 is output from the output mirror 602. I was going to take it out. However, although a diffraction grating 603 and a prism 604 for narrowing the band are used, the diffraction grating 603 coated with a special reflective film is directly irradiated with DUV light, and thus easily deteriorates. Therefore, frequent replacement is required, and thus high running cost is a problem.

The KrF excimer laser 101 used in the present embodiment is a KrF exposing laser
Excimer laser is used. However, in a conventional exposure apparatus using a KrF excimer laser as an exposure light source,
The KrF excimer laser required a band-narrowing element.
On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the KrF excimer laser 101 is used as the excitation light source of the dye laser.
A dye, which is a laser medium of a dye laser, generally has a broad absorption spectrum having a wavelength width of several tens nm or more. Therefore, it is not necessary to narrow the band of the KrF excimer laser 101 serving as the excitation light source, and the prism and diffraction grating constituting the band narrowing element may be removed and replaced with a normal total reflection mirror.

In this embodiment, the laser light L1 of the dye laser oscillator 102 is monitored instead of directly monitoring the wavelength and the wavelength width of the DUV light used as the exposure light. Therefore, the wavelength 3
Since a relatively long wavelength is measured even in the ultraviolet region of 86 nm, there is no deterioration in a short period of time, and the running cost due to wavelength monitor replacement can be reduced.

In this embodiment, the excitation light source for the dye laser oscillator 102 and the dye laser amplifier 103 is K
Although the rF excimer laser 101 is used, since the excitation lights K2 and K3 have a wavelength of 248 nm, a wavelength of 308 n
m XeCl excimer laser, the dye solution 11
In 5a and 115b, the excitation lights K2 and K3 are strongly absorbed, and the absorption length is usually as short as 1 mm or less. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1, the dye laser oscillator 102 and the dye laser
In 03, the dye solutions 115a and 115b are circulated by a jet method. Therefore, the dye solutions 115a, 115
The thickness of b can be reduced to about the absorption length, and the excitation region by the excitation lights K2 and K3 and the laser light passage region of the dye laser can be made substantially coincident. Contrary to this, in the method using a widely used dye cell, the dye solution flows inside the glass dye cell.Thus, when the thickness of the dye solution is reduced, the fluid loss increases, and the dye solution increases. This causes a problem that it becomes difficult to flow.

Next, an example of the configuration of the exposure apparatus of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The exposure apparatus 200 includes an exposure apparatus main body 150 and the exposure light source 100 shown in FIG. The exposure apparatus 200 is installed on the grating 210b in the clean room, and
Numeral 0 is installed on the floor 210a of the floor (generally called the under floor) below the grating 210b of the clean room. That is, in the present embodiment, the clean room is of a type called a down flow, in which purified air flows from top to bottom, and
Through 10b, it goes under the floor.

The wavelength 19 extracted from the exposure light source 100
The 3 nm exposure light L4 is reflected by the mirror 201a, passes through the grating 210b, passes through the lens 201c,
The light enters the callide scope 202. Thereby, the intensity distribution of the exposure light L4a is made uniform by repeating total internal reflection. Further, as shown in the drawing, even if the incident laser light is repeatedly totally internally reflected, the traveling direction of each light beam constituting the emitted laser light does not change. That is, when the ring-shaped exposure light L4a is condensed by the lens 201c, there is no light beam having a component substantially parallel to the optical axis. However, since the kaleidoscope is used in the present embodiment, even if the exposure light is emitted from the kaleidoscope 202 (exposure light L4b), there is no light beam having a component substantially parallel to the optical axis. Available to In addition, the callide scope 202 is made of calcium fluoride (Ca
F ₂₎ made of a glass rod is used. In other words, it is because fucca calcium transmits ultraviolet light well. However, when laser light having a sufficiently uniform intensity distribution is extracted from the exposure light source of the present invention, the exposure apparatus of the present invention does not need to use a homogenizing optical system such as a kaleidoscope.

The exposure light L4b having a uniform intensity distribution emitted from the kaleidoscope 202 is reflected by the mirror 201b, and the beam is expanded by the beam expander 203.
After being reflected by the mirror 201c, it passes through the random phase plate 204. Here, the speckle noise of the exposure light is removed, and the exposure light is irradiated on the reticle 206 through the condenser lens 205. The laser beam emitted from the reticle 206 passes through a reduction projection lens 207 made of a quartz lens,
On the wafer 209 placed on the wafer. Thus, the pattern on the reticle 206 is reduced and projected on the wafer 209.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the wavelength width of the exposure light of 193 nm, which is the output of the ArF excimer laser 105, can be made sufficiently small, so that the reduction projection lens 207 using a quartz lens can be used similarly to the conventional KrF exposure apparatus. Can now be used. That is, an expensive achromatic lens becomes unnecessary, and the manufacturing cost of the exposure apparatus can be reduced.

As described above, the exposure light source 100 uses the unstable resonator type ArF excimer laser 105 shown in FIG. 6 as described above, so that the exposure light L4 has a ring shape. On the other hand, since the exposure apparatus main body 150 uses the kaleidoscope 202 to make the intensity distribution of the exposure light L4a uniform, the kaleidoscope 202
The exposure light L4b emitted from the light source also becomes ring-shaped. Therefore, in the present embodiment, annular illumination is performed, and exposure processing can be performed with high resolution.

Although the kaleidoscope 202 is known to have a function of making the intensity distribution of the incident laser light uniform, not only this but also the spread of each light beam constituting the incident laser light is known. The angle is maintained. That is, the laser light emitted from the kaleidoscope 202 also
When the beam is returned to the parallel beam, it becomes ring-shaped. Therefore, in this embodiment, as a means for making the intensity distribution of the laser beam uniform, a kaleidoscope is particularly used. Note that the kaleidoscope in this embodiment refers to a glass rod-shaped member that highly transmits laser light as exposure light, and when laser light is incident on the inside thereof, total reflection is repeated on the inner surface. Any shape and material may be used as long as it has a function of making the intensity distribution of the emitted laser light uniform. Regarding the kaleidoscope, for example, Laser Research, Vol. 22, No. 11,
It is described in 1994, pages 67 to 74.

As for annular illumination, for example, UL
This is described in Innovation of SI Lithography Technology, published by Science Forum Co., Ltd., pp. 45-47. On the other hand, to use annular illumination in a conventional general exposure apparatus, the central portion of the exposure light is cut, so that the illuminance (to be exact, the total power of the exposure light applied to the wafer) And the throughput may decrease.

The exposure apparatus is not limited to the stepper type illustrated in FIG. 2, but may be applied to a scan type exposure apparatus illustrated in FIG.

That is, in the case of the scanning method, the wafer 209 is reciprocated in a predetermined one-axis direction while the wafer 209 is moved on the stage 208a which can be displaced such as normal XY, tilt, rotation, vertical movement, and the like. A wafer scan stage 208b to be mounted is provided, while the reticle 206 is configured to be mounted on a reticle scan stage 206a that reciprocates in the same axial direction as the wafer scan stage 208b. Is different.

That is, the wafer scan stage 208
b and the reticle scan stage 206a are connected via a reciprocating motor 500a and a reciprocating motor 500b.
The synchronous control unit 500 is configured to move in opposite directions in synchronization with each other.

As a result, as shown in FIG. 8, the exposure area 550 for the unit chip on the wafer 209 on the reticle 206 is inscribed in the exposure field 551 of the projection optical system such as the reduction projection lens 207. By scanning in the long side direction (left and right direction in FIG. 8) by the rectangular exposure field 552 having one side equal to the short side of 550,
The entire pattern of the exposure area 550 is transferred onto the wafer 209.

In this scanning type exposure apparatus, when the laser light L4 as the exposure light output from the ArF excimer laser 105 is used as the exposure light, the laser light L4 is more stable than the KrF excimer laser 1
Since the operation is performed by injection locking using the laser obtained from the laser light source 01 as the seed light, the pulse output is stable. Therefore, for example, the scan speed is reduced in consideration of the variation of the pulse output to reduce the exposure area per unit area. It is not necessary to consider, for example, to make the integrated value of the light amount uniform, and the throughput can be improved by faster scanning.

Next, a second embodiment of the exposure light source used in the exposure apparatus of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an exposure light source 300. The exposure light source 300 is roughly divided into a KrF excimer laser 101 and a dye laser oscillator 102 ′ (the structure of the dye laser oscillator 1 shown in FIG. 1).
02 but with a different oscillation wavelength. ) And a dye laser amplifier 103 ′ (the configuration is the same as that of the dye laser amplifier 103 shown in FIG. 1, but the amplification wavelength is different.)
And a wavelength conversion unit 104 '(the configuration is the same as that of the wavelength conversion unit 104 shown in FIG. 1, but the wavelength to be converted is different).
A dye laser oscillator 301, a wavelength synthesizer 302,
ArF excimer laser 105 and pulse synchronizer 107
It is composed of

The excitation light K1 having a wavelength of 248 nm extracted from the KrF excimer laser 101 hits the beam splitter 110a, and about 20% of its power is reflected here, and the reflected laser light K2 is converted into the dye laser oscillator 102 '.
, And used as excitation light. In the dye laser oscillator 102 ', Coumarin is used as a laser medium.
A dye such as 500 is suitable, and if this dye is used, laser operation can be efficiently performed at a wavelength of about 500 nm. Here, an internal diffraction grating (not shown in FIG. 3, but corresponds to 114 in FIG. 1) is set to oscillate at a wavelength of about 510 nm.

The laser beam L1 'taken out of the dye laser oscillator 102' hits the beam splitter 110b, where the power of about several percent is reflected and enters the wavelength monitor 106, where the wavelength and wavelength width are monitored. ing.

The laser light L1 'having passed through the beam splitter 110b enters the dye laser amplifier 103'.

On the other hand, of the excitation light K1 extracted from the KrF excimer laser 101, the beam splitter 110a
Of the pumping light K3 of about 80% power transmitted through
% Is reflected by the beam splitter 110c, proceeds to the dye laser amplifier 103 ', and contributes to the amplification. As a result, the laser light L1 'is amplified and a laser light L2' is obtained. The laser light L2 'proceeds into the wavelength conversion unit 104', and a laser light L3 'having a wavelength of about 255 nm, which is the second harmonic, is generated.

The nonlinear optical crystal used in the wavelength converter 104 ′ can efficiently generate a wavelength of about 255 nm with a second harmonic such as a β-BaB ₂ O ₄ crystal (generally abbreviated as BBO). Things are suitable.

The laser beam L3 'is applied to the dichroic mirror 3
It hits 03. The dichroic mirror 303 has a high reflectance near a wavelength of about 255 nm, and has a wavelength of about 80 nm.
In the vicinity of 0 nm, it has a characteristic of high transmittance. Therefore, the laser beam L3 'is reflected here and travels to the wavelength combiner 302.

The excitation light K5 transmitted through the beam splitter 110c advances into the dye laser oscillator 301 and is used as an excitation light source. As a result, the dye laser oscillator 301
Oscillates, and a laser beam L5 is extracted.

In the dye laser oscillator 301, a dye capable of efficiently performing laser operation at a wavelength of about 800 nm is required as the dye. In this case, a dye called DOTC is used.

The laser beam L5 is applied to the dichroic mirror 3
03, the light passes through the wavelength synthesizer 302 and passes through the achromatic lens 304a.
It is condensed in 05. Also, the dichroic mirror 30
The laser light L3 'reflected from the light source 3 is also condensed at the same point in the nonlinear optical crystal 305 by passing through the achromatic lens 304a. The laser light of 800 nm is synthesized, and the wavelength 1 which is the sum frequency thereof is used.
A 93 nm laser beam is generated. The light passes through the achromatic lens 304b and is extracted from the wavelength synthesizer 302 to the outside. In addition, as the nonlinear optical crystal 305,
A BBO crystal that can generate 193 nm according to the sum frequency is suitable. Regarding sum frequency generation using BBO, for example, Applied Optics, Vol. 36, No. 1
No. 8, 1997, pages 4159 to 4162.

The laser beam L7 having a wavelength of 193 nm is
The light is reflected by 11 c and injected into the ArF excimer laser 105. That is, the laser light L7 becomes seed light of the ArF excimer laser 105. Thereby, similarly to the first embodiment, the amplified laser light L having a wavelength of 193 nm is obtained.
4 is taken out. This is used as exposure light.

The feature of the second embodiment is that, unlike the first embodiment, two dye laser oscillators 102 ',
And 301, wavelengths 510 nm and 800, respectively.
The laser is oscillated in nm. Since these are the visible region and the near-infrared region, the band-narrowing element and the like used therefor can be used for a longer period of time. However, band narrowing may be performed by one of the two dye laser oscillators 102 'and 301.

Next, a third embodiment of the exposure light source according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of the exposure light source 400, and FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a part of the configuration in more detail. Exposure light source 400
Are a semiconductor-pumped Nd: YLF laser 401, wavelength converters 402 and 403, a titanium sapphire laser 404, a wavelength synthesizer 405, an ArF excimer laser 406,
And a pulse control device 408.

The semiconductor-pumped Nd: YLF laser 401 of the present embodiment is, for example, as shown in FIG.
d: solid-state laser 401a made of a YLF crystal and total reflection mirror 40 arranged facing both ends thereof and forming a resonator
1b, an output mirror 401c, an ultrasonic Q switch 401e, a plurality of narrowing elements 401d such as an etalon arranged on an optical path in the resonator, and a plurality of pump lights 401f for exciting a solid-state laser 401a. Semiconductor laser 401g, etc.

The operating temperatures of the plurality of semiconductor lasers 401g are controlled within a predetermined range by a temperature control mechanism (not shown) or the like.

As the semiconductor laser 401g that excites the solid-state laser 401a, for example, a high-output type semiconductor laser made of AlGaAs (aluminum / gallium / arsenic) mixed crystal having an oscillation wavelength of about 0.8 μm can be used.

The laser beam L41 having a wavelength of 1047 nm extracted from the semiconductor-excited Nd: YLF laser 401 almost passes through the beam splitter 410a, and
02, and a second harmonic laser beam L42 having a wavelength of about 523 nm is extracted. The laser light L42 enters the beam splitter 410b, where approximately 50% of the light is transmitted, and enters the wavelength conversion unit 403. As a result, a second harmonic of the laser beam L42, that is, a laser beam L44 having a wavelength of about 262 nm, which is the fourth harmonic of the laser beam L41, is extracted.

As a nonlinear optical crystal to be used in the wavelength converter 402, for example, a KTP crystal is suitable.
In the wavelength converter 403, for example, a BBO crystal or the like is suitable as the nonlinear optical crystal to be used.

The semiconductor-pumped Nd: YLF laser 40
1, the ultrasonic Q switch 401e is used as described above, thereby performing a pulse operation at a repetition rate of 1 kHz. That is, the laser beam L41 is a 1 kHz repetitive pulsed laser beam.

In the present embodiment, the reason why the semiconductor-pumped Nd: YLF laser 401 is used as an example of the solid-state laser will be described below. Nd: YLF crystal has a fluorescence lifetime of 5
20 μsec, which is about twice as long as that of the Nd: YAG crystal. In particular, in the case of the repetitive operation using the AO-Q switch (ultrasonic Q switch), when the frequency is about 1 kHz or less, as shown in FIG. It is known that a laser output approximately twice that of an Nd: YAG crystal can be obtained. On the other hand, in the case of the present embodiment, the laser light obtained by wavelength-converting the laser light from the Nd: YLF laser is used as the seed light of the ArF excimer laser. Generally, the excimer laser operates at a repetition frequency of 1 kHz or less, It is difficult to do more.

Therefore, taking these facts into consideration, at about 1 kHz which is the repetition frequency of the excimer laser, N
It is more convenient to use a Nd: YLF crystal, which can obtain a higher output than a d: YAG crystal, to obtain high energy seed light. In this embodiment, an Nd: YLF crystal is used. Note that the laser energy of the Nd: YLF laser is described in, for example, the publications of Nikkei Technical Publication Co., Ltd., “Advanced Laser Technology”, page 473, and the like.

The laser beam L43 reflected by the beam splitter 410b among the laser beams L42 is reflected by a mirror 411a.
After being reflected by the laser beam, the laser beam enters the titanium sapphire laser 404 and is used as excitation light. As a result, the titanium sapphire laser 404 oscillates, and laser light L45 having a wavelength of about 740 nm is extracted.

The laser light L44 having a wavelength of about 262 nm is reflected by the dichroic mirror 412, while the laser light L44 having a wavelength of about
The laser beam L45 of 0 nm is applied to the dichroic mirror 412.
Is transmitted. As a result, these laser beams become one superposed laser beam L46, enter the wavelength synthesizer 405, generate a sum frequency thereof, and extract a laser beam L47 having a wavelength of 193 nm. In addition,
In the wavelength synthesizer 405, for example, a BBO crystal or a CLBO crystal is suitable as the nonlinear optical crystal to be used.

The laser beam L47 is reflected by the mirror 411b and then used as seed light for the ArF excimer laser 406. Thus, an amplified laser beam L48 having a wavelength of 193 nm is obtained and used as exposure light. Note that the ArF excimer laser 406 also operates at a repetition rate of 1 kHz.

In this embodiment, the semiconductor excitation Nd: YL
The F laser 401 is narrowed by the band narrowing element 401d. In addition, a part of the extracted laser light L41 is reflected by the beam splitter 410a and enters the wavelength monitor 407, where the wavelength is constantly monitored. As a result, the wavelength is always set to a stable value.

A semiconductor-pumped Nd: YLF laser 401 and an ArF excimer laser 40 operating at 1 kHz
6, the oscillation timing is synchronized by the pulse control device 408.

In this embodiment, a semiconductor-pumped Nd: YLF laser 401 is used as a base for generating the seed light L47, but a semiconductor-pumped Nd: YLF laser 401 is used.
Semiconductor laser 4 used as an excitation light source in
For 01g, a normal high output type having an oscillation wavelength of 803 nm is used. On the other hand, the absorption spectrum of the Nd: YLF crystal is almost constant around the wavelength of 803 nm as shown in FIG. On the other hand, in the Nd: YAG crystal of the YAG laser widely used as a solid-state laser, the absorption changes greatly from a wavelength of 800 to 805 nm.

Since the absorption spectrum of the Nd: YLF crystal shows a relatively gentle curve with respect to the change in wavelength as compared with the Nd: YAG crystal, the semiconductor laser 401g
Of the wavelength of the excitation light 401f due to a temperature change is reduced.

Therefore, even if the oscillation wavelength of the semiconductor laser 401g changes due to a change in ambient temperature, Nd: YAG
The change in the excitation ratio of the Nd: YLF crystal is smaller than that of the crystal. Thus, the semiconductor-pumped Nd: YLF laser 401
In this case, since the pulse stability becomes particularly high, the seed light L4
7 also has higher pulse stability. Therefore, the pulse stability of the laser beam L48 used as the exposure light increases.

Therefore, as described above, this laser beam L
When 48 is used as the exposure light of the scanning type exposure apparatus, the throughput can be improved by increasing the scanning speed.

Next, one embodiment of a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. That is, (1) to (5) of FIG. 9 are cross-sectional views illustrating an example of a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device of the present embodiment in the order of steps.

In the case of the method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to this embodiment, a case of manufacturing a semiconductor device using, for example, the exposure apparatus 200 shown in FIG. 2 will be described.

In FIG. 9, as an example of a step of performing processing by photolithography, silicon dioxide (SiO ₂ ) deposited (deposited) on the surface of a silicon substrate 1001 is shown.
The case where a minute hole (contact hole) is made in the thin film 1002 of FIG.

In the photolithography process, first, as shown in FIG. 9A, a resist 10 is deposited on a thin film 1002 such as SiO ₂ deposited on a silicon substrate 1001.
03 is applied.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9B, the exposure light L
6a (shown by a number of arrows)
Exposure is performed by irradiating the resist 1003 on the first surface. That is, exposure light having a predetermined pattern of irradiation distribution in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis through the reticle 206 (FIG. 2) is applied to the resist 100.
3 is irradiated. Here, the exposure light L6a is not applied to the area corresponding to the hole having the diameter ΔW.

In this embodiment, the resist 1003
Is a negative resist. When developed after exposure, as shown in FIG. 9 (3), only the holes of diameter ΔW where the exposure light L6a was not irradiated are dissolved in the developing solution and removed, and the opening 1003a is removed. Is formed.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9D, when etching is performed, the thin film 1002 exposed from the opening 1003a of the resist 1003 is removed by etching.

Finally, as shown in FIG. 9 (5), the resist 1003 is removed by ashing or the like, thereby forming a thin film 10 having a contact hole 1002a having a diameter ΔW.
02 will remain on the silicon substrate 1001.

In this embodiment, the wavelength of the exposure light is 193.
nm, so even with normal exposure,
0.19μm diameter hole (contact hole, etc.) and width
Processing of 0.19 μm lines can be performed. Further, in the exposure apparatus of the present embodiment, the annular illumination can be configured without lowering the illuminance, so that the wavelength 0.12 μm, which is about 60% of the exposure wavelength,
Holes and lines with a diameter of m can be machined with high throughput.

When a semiconductor device such as a semiconductor memory element or a semiconductor logic element is manufactured by the method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to the present embodiment, a conventional i-line ( An exposure apparatus using 365 nm wavelength or a KrF excimer laser (248 nm wavelength) as the exposure light, and an ArF excimer laser (193 nm wavelength) as in the present embodiment.
nm) as the exposure light.

For example, in the case of a semiconductor memory device or the like, the ArF excimer laser of this embodiment is used for exposing light to an element isolation step, a gate layer formation step, a contact hole formation step, a capacitor formation step, etc., which require particularly fine processing. It is conceivable to use an exposure apparatus that uses a conventional i-line or a KrF excimer laser as the exposure light in the other steps.

However, for example, DRA of 1 Gbit or more
In semiconductor devices such as M, even in a wiring layer forming step in which the dimensional accuracy is relatively strict, other than the above-described steps, the required dimensional accuracy is lower than that of the conventional exposure apparatus using i-line or KrF excimer laser as the exposure light. In such a case, the exposure apparatus using the ArF excimer laser of this embodiment as exposure light may be applied to all steps.

As described above, in the present invention, as described above, DUV light having a sufficiently narrow band can be obtained without providing a narrow band element in the ArF excimer laser itself.
In addition, the band-narrowing element used in the exposure light source of the present invention is only irradiated with laser light having a wavelength of about 386 nm or more, so that the band-narrowing element is not easily deteriorated. Therefore, a lower running cost can be realized as compared with the conventional ArF excimer laser for exposure.

Since the solid-state laser such as a KrF excimer laser or a semiconductor-pumped Nd: YLF laser is used as a laser for generating the seed light, the pulse stability is improved. Thus, when the exposure light source of the present invention is used in the scan type ArF exposure apparatus illustrated in FIG. 7 and the like, the throughput is increased.

Further, as the exposure light source of the present invention, in particular, Kr
In the case of using an F excimer laser, the KrF excimer laser of the KrF exposing machine of one generation before can be used again as the exposure apparatus for the KrF excimer laser. Therefore, there is no need to purchase a new KrF excimer laser. As a result, the exposure light source body can be configured at low cost.

Further, ArF constituting the exposure light source of the present invention
By configuring the excimer laser with an unstable resonator, it becomes annular illumination. Therefore, annular illumination can be applied without lowering the illuminance.

Further, according to the present invention, the life of the optical system of the exposure apparatus is prolonged. That is, Ar for exposure
The F excimer laser is compared with the KrF excimer laser.
Since the pulse width is as short as about 10 ns, the peak power is increased, and there is a problem that the quartz glass constituting the optical system of the exposure apparatus is liable to deteriorate such as compaction. On the other hand, the pulse width of the exposure light of the exposure light source according to the present invention is substantially equal to the pulse width of the seed light, but the pulse width of the seed light is a base laser such as a KrF excimer laser or a semiconductor excitation Nd: Since the pulse width is almost equal to the pulse width of the YLF laser, it is easy to make the pulse width longer than that of the ArF excimer laser, the peak power can be reduced, and the life of an optical system such as a reduction projection lens can be extended. Become.

Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to a fluorine laser. That is, ArF constituting the present invention
By using a fluorine laser instead of an excimer laser, a fluorine laser that is injection-locked can be configured. This makes it possible to narrow the wavelength of the fluorine laser.

Further, as described above, the wavelength width of the exposure light source of the present invention can be made narrower than that of the conventional ArF excimer laser. It has become possible to apply a reduction projection lens having a larger aperture ratio (NA) when constructing. As a result, the resolution can be increased as compared with the conventional ArF exposure apparatus, and finer processing has become possible. The reason is that the wavelength width required for the exposure light is inversely proportional to the square of NA.

Although the invention made by the inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiment, the invention is not limited to the embodiment and can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the invention. Needless to say, there is.

[0116]

Advantageous effects obtained by typical ones of the inventions disclosed in the present application will be briefly described.
It is as follows.

According to the method of manufacturing a semiconductor device of the present invention,
The effect that pattern transfer by photolithography using exposure light having a wavelength in the vacuum ultraviolet region can be performed at low running cost is obtained.

Further, according to the method of manufacturing a semiconductor device of the present invention, by using exposure light having a wavelength in a vacuum ultraviolet region having a small variation in pulse energy, it is possible to perform pattern transfer by scanning photolithography at high throughput. Can be obtained.

According to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, there is obtained an effect that stable exposure with small energy fluctuation of exposure light can be performed at low running cost.

According to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to improve the throughput in the exposure by the scanning method.

According to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the cost and lengthen the life of the exposure optical system.

According to the exposure apparatus of the present invention, an effect is obtained that a large number of semiconductor devices can be manufactured at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a configuration of an exposure light source used in a semiconductor device manufacturing method and an exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a configuration of an exposure apparatus used for a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing another example of a configuration of an exposure light source used in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and an exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing still another example of a configuration of an exposure light source used in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and an exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a configuration of a solid-state laser constituting an exposure light source used in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and an exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an exposure light source used in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and an exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;
It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of a structure of an rF excimer laser.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a configuration of a scanning type exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the operation of a scanning type exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 9A to 9C are cross-sectional views illustrating an example of a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention in the order of steps;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of an operation of a solid-state laser constituting an exposure light source used in a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device and an exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an operation of a solid-state laser constituting an exposure light source used in a semiconductor device manufacturing method and an exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a possible configuration of a conventional ArF excimer laser.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 Exposure light source 101 KrF excimer laser 102, 102 'Dye laser oscillator 103, 103' Dye laser amplifier 104, 104 'Wavelength conversion unit 105 ArF excimer laser 106 Wavelength monitor 107 Pulse synchronizer 110a, 110b, 110c Beam splitter 111a, 111b, 111c Mirror 112a, 112b, 112c, 112d Lens 113 Output Mirror 114 Diffraction Grating 115a, 115b Dye Solution 116 Etalon 117 Nonlinear Optical Crystal 120 Laser Tube 121 Output Mirror 122 Perforated Mirror 123 Convex Mirror L1, L2 Laser Light (wavelength 386 nm) L3 Laser light (DUV light of 193 nm wavelength) L4, L4a, L4b Laser light (DUV light of 193 nm wavelength and becomes exposure light) K1, K2, K3 Excitation light (K (Laser light from F excimer laser oscillator 101) 150 Exposure apparatus main body 200 Exposure apparatus 201a, 201b, 201c Mirror 202 Calliscope 203 Beam expander 204 Random phase plate 205 Condenser lens 206 Reticle 206a Reticle scan stage 207 Reduction projection lens 208 Stage 208a Stage 208b Wafer Scan Stage 209 Wafer 210a Floor Under Clean Room Floor 210b Grating 300 Exposure Light Source 301 Dye Laser Oscillator 303 Dichroic Mirror 304a, 304b Achromatic Lens 305 Nonlinear Optical Crystal 400 Exposure Light Source 401 Semiconductor Excitation Nd: YLF Laser 402, 403 Wavelength Conversion Part 404 titanium sapphire laser 405 wavelength synthesizer 406 A rF excimer laser 407 wavelength monitor 408 pulse controller 410a, 410b beam splitter 411a, 411b mirror 412 dichroic mirror L41 laser light (wavelength 1047 nm) L42, L43 laser light (wavelength about 524 nm) L44 laser light (wavelength about 262 nm) L45 laser light (Wavelength: about 740 nm) L47 laser light (193 nm wavelength seed light) L48 exposure light (193 nm wavelength) L1 ′, L2 ′ laser light (wavelength: about 510 nm) L3 ′ laser light (wavelength: about 255 nm) L5 laser light (wavelength: about 800 nm) ) L6 laser light (wavelength about 255 nm and wavelength about 800 n)
m) L7 Laser light (including DUV light having a wavelength of 193 nm) 500 Synchronous control unit 500a Reciprocating motor 500b Reciprocating motor 550 Exposure area 551 Exposure field 552 Equivalent rectangular exposure field 600 ArF excimer laser oscillator 601 Laser tube 602 Output Mirror 603 Diffraction grating 604 Prism L401 Laser light (DUV light) 1001 Silicon substrate 1002 Thin film 1002a Contact hole 1003 Resist 1003a Opening

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A semiconductor device manufacturing method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using photolithography in which a desired pattern on the exposure master is transferred to a semiconductor wafer with exposure light passing through the exposure master, comprising: Means for converting one or more first lasers output from the first laser generator into a second laser having a shorter wavelength by a wavelength converter, and obtaining the second laser. A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: inputting a laser as a seed light to an injection-locked second laser generator, and using a third laser output from the second laser generator as the exposure light. . 2. The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the first laser generator includes a dye laser including a KrF excimer laser or a XeCl excimer laser as an excitation light source and including a band-narrowing element. The second laser generator is composed of an ArF excimer laser, and the wavelength converter outputs the second laser as a second harmonic of the narrowed first laser output from the dye laser. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: a nonlinear optical crystal. 3. The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the first laser generator includes a KrF excimer laser or a XeCl excimer laser as an excitation light source, and at least one of the first laser generator and the second laser generator includes a band-narrowing element. A plurality of dye lasers that output lasers having different wavelengths as the first laser; the second laser generating unit includes an ArF excimer laser; and the wavelength conversion unit outputs the laser light from each of the plurality of dye lasers. A wavelength synthesizer for generating a second laser having a sum frequency of a first laser composed of the lasers having different wavelengths. 4. The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the first laser generator includes a first solid-state laser pumped by the semiconductor laser and an output of the first solid-state laser. A first wavelength conversion element that generates a second harmonic, a second wavelength conversion element that generates a fourth harmonic from the second harmonic, and a second wavelength conversion element that is obtained from the first wavelength conversion element. A second solid-state laser that is partially pumped,
The first laser includes a fourth harmonic of an output of the first solid-state laser and an output of the second solid-state laser having a wavelength different from that of the fourth harmonic. , An ArF excimer laser, wherein the wavelength converting means is a wavelength synthesizer that generates a second laser having a fourth harmonic of the output of the first solid-state laser and a sum frequency of the output of the second solid-state laser. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: 5. The method for manufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein said second laser generator is constituted by an unstable resonator, and is output from said second laser generator. The third laser has a ring-shaped spatial distribution of the amount of light in a plane orthogonal to the optical path, and transfers a desired pattern on the exposure original to a semiconductor wafer by annular illumination by the third laser. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, comprising: 6. The method of manufacturing a semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein said exposure light is irradiated on said semiconductor wafer through said exposure master in a direction orthogonal to an optical axis of an exposure optical system. A method of manufacturing the semiconductor device, wherein the exposure original and the semiconductor wafer are subjected to scan exposure for scanning in opposite directions during exposure. 7. An exposure apparatus comprising: an exposure light source that generates exposure light; and an exposure optical system that irradiates the exposure light onto an object to be exposed via the exposure master, wherein the exposure light source has a narrow band. First laser generator for outputting one or a plurality of narrowed first lasers provided with a wavelength converting means, and wavelength converting means for converting the first laser into a second laser having a shorter wavelength An exposure apparatus, comprising: an injection-locked second laser generator that operates using the second laser as a seed beam; and a second laser generator that outputs a third laser. 8. The exposure apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the first laser generator includes a dye laser including a KrF excimer laser or a XeCl excimer laser as an excitation light source, and a dye laser including a band-narrowing element. The laser generating section is made of an ArF excimer laser, and the wavelength converting means outputs the second laser as a second harmonic of the narrowed first laser output from the dye laser. A first configuration made of a crystal, wherein the first laser generating section uses a KrF excimer laser or a XeCl excimer laser as an excitation light source, and at least one of the first lasers outputs a laser having a different wavelength including a band-narrowing element. The second laser generating section is made of an ArF excimer laser, and the wavelength conversion is performed. The second means comprises a wavelength synthesizer for generating a second laser having a sum frequency of a first laser consisting of the lasers having different wavelengths output from each of the plurality of dye lasers; A laser generator configured to generate a first solid-state laser excited by the semiconductor laser, a first wavelength conversion element that generates a second harmonic from an output of the first solid-state laser, A second wavelength conversion element that generates four harmonics, and a second solid-state laser that is excited by using a part of the second harmonic obtained from the first wavelength conversion element,
The first laser includes a fourth harmonic of an output of the first solid-state laser and an output of the second solid-state laser having a wavelength different from that of the fourth harmonic. , An ArF excimer laser, wherein the wavelength converting means comprises a wavelength synthesizer that generates a second laser having a fourth harmonic of the output of the first solid-state laser and a sum frequency of the output of the second solid-state laser. An exposure apparatus comprising any one of the following configurations: 9. The exposure apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the second laser generator of the exposure light source is constituted by an unstable resonator, and the third laser output from the second laser generator. An exposure apparatus, wherein a spatial distribution of a light amount in a plane orthogonal to an optical path of the laser is ring-shaped, and annular illumination using the third laser as exposure light is performed. 10. The exposure apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the exposure master and the semiconductor wafer are synchronously scanned in a direction orthogonal to an optical axis of the exposure optical system and in mutually opposite directions during exposure. An exposure apparatus comprising a scan exposure mechanism.