CN107918250B - Photoresist trimming method and photoresist trimming machine in NTD (non-volatile memory) process - Google Patents
Photoresist trimming method and photoresist trimming machine in NTD (non-volatile memory) process Download PDFInfo
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- CN107918250B CN107918250B CN201610884452.XA CN201610884452A CN107918250B CN 107918250 B CN107918250 B CN 107918250B CN 201610884452 A CN201610884452 A CN 201610884452A CN 107918250 B CN107918250 B CN 107918250B
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- G—PHYSICS
- G03—PHOTOGRAPHY; CINEMATOGRAPHY; ANALOGOUS TECHNIQUES USING WAVES OTHER THAN OPTICAL WAVES; ELECTROGRAPHY; HOLOGRAPHY
- G03F—PHOTOMECHANICAL PRODUCTION OF TEXTURED OR PATTERNED SURFACES, e.g. FOR PRINTING, FOR PROCESSING OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICES; MATERIALS THEREFOR; ORIGINALS THEREFOR; APPARATUS SPECIALLY ADAPTED THEREFOR
- G03F7/00—Photomechanical, e.g. photolithographic, production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g. printing surfaces; Materials therefor, e.g. comprising photoresists; Apparatus specially adapted therefor
- G03F7/20—Exposure; Apparatus therefor
- G03F7/2022—Multi-step exposure, e.g. hybrid; backside exposure; blanket exposure, e.g. for image reversal; edge exposure, e.g. for edge bead removal; corrective exposure
- G03F7/2026—Multi-step exposure, e.g. hybrid; backside exposure; blanket exposure, e.g. for image reversal; edge exposure, e.g. for edge bead removal; corrective exposure for the removal of unwanted material, e.g. image or background correction
- G03F7/2028—Multi-step exposure, e.g. hybrid; backside exposure; blanket exposure, e.g. for image reversal; edge exposure, e.g. for edge bead removal; corrective exposure for the removal of unwanted material, e.g. image or background correction of an edge bead on wafers
Abstract
A photoresistance edge-removing process and a photoresistance edge-removing machine in NTD process, the photoresistance edge-removing process comprises: providing a wafer, wherein a photoresist film is coated on the wafer; exposing the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer; and developing the photoresist film after exposure treatment by adopting a developer in a positive photoresist developing process, and removing the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer. The invention improves the precision of the photoresistance trimming in the NTD process and improves the uniformity of the photoresistance trimming result in the NTD process.
Description
Technical Field
The invention relates to the technical field of semiconductor manufacturing, in particular to a photoresist trimming method and a photoresist trimming machine in an NTD (non-volatile memory) process.
Background
As integrated circuits have been developed, the density of transistors has increased, and critical dimensions have decreased, defects generated during the photolithography process have an important effect on the yield and quality of the devices, wherein the cleaning and definition of the wafer boundaries has become especially important. In the photoetching process, a photoresist is coated on the surface of a wafer in a spinning way, and the photoresist is often accumulated on the upper surface and the lower surface close to the boundary of the wafer; during the subsequent etching or ion implantation process, the photoresist accumulated at the wafer boundary is likely to contact and collide with the robot arm of the wafer, thereby causing particle contamination. Therefore, the photolithography process usually proceeds the photoresist edge-removing on the wafer surface to avoid the above problems.
The method for removing the edge of the wafer surface photoresist in the prior art mainly comprises the following steps: chemical Edge deletion (EBR, Edge Bead Removal) and Wafer Edge Exposure (WEE, Wafer Edge Exposure). The chemical edge-removing method is to spray solvent to the edge of the wafer to eliminate the photoresist on the edge of the wafer in the photoresist coating process; the method has the disadvantages of long trimming time, high solvent material consumption cost and the regularity of trimming of the photoresist needs to be improved, which may cause wafer defects to affect the process yield. The edge exposure method is to remove the edge photoresist after coating the photoresist and before exposure using a WEE system, that is: the wafer is adsorbed on a rotary platform in a vacuum mode, a set of ultraviolet exposure lens and a diaphragm are fixed above the edge of the wafer, the ultraviolet exposure lens passes through the diaphragm to generate uniform illumination light spots with certain sizes, and then the edge of the wafer is exposed by utilizing the rotation of the rotary platform. Compared with a chemical edge-removing method, the wafer edge exposure method has the advantages of high production efficiency, low device cost, easy process control, regular and smooth edge-cutting shape and the like.
However, the photoresist edge removal quality in the Negative tone resist development (NTD) technique is to be improved.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention provides a photoresist trimming method and a photoresist trimming machine in an NTD (non-volatile transfer) process, which can improve the photoresist trimming precision and uniformity in the NTD process.
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a photoresist trimming method in NTD process, comprising: providing a wafer, wherein a photoresist film is coated on the wafer; exposing the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer; and developing the photoresist film after exposure treatment by adopting a developer in a positive photoresist developing process, and removing the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer.
Optionally, the developing method includes: and spraying the developer to the photoresist film after the exposure treatment until the photoresist film after the exposure treatment is developed and removed, wherein the spraying width of the sprayed developer is greater than or equal to the exposure width of the exposure treatment.
Optionally, the wafer is rotated around the central axis of the wafer while the developer is sprayed on the exposed photoresist film.
Optionally, the exposure processing method includes: providing an exposure light source; and irradiating the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer by adopting the exposure light source, and simultaneously enabling the wafer to rotate around the central axis of the wafer.
Optionally, before performing the exposure process, the method further includes: and carrying out center calibration on the wafer, so that the center of the wafer is coincident with the central axis of the wafer when the wafer rotates.
Optionally, before performing the exposure process, the method further includes: and carrying out a chemical edge removing process on the photoresist film at the edge of the wafer, wherein the width of the photoresist film removed by the chemical edge removing process is smaller than the exposure width of the exposure treatment.
Optionally, the method of the chemical edge-removing process includes: and spraying a chemical edge-removing solvent to the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer, rotating the wafer around the central axis of the wafer while spraying the chemical edge-removing solvent, wherein the spraying width of the chemical edge-removing solvent is smaller than the exposure width of the exposure treatment.
Optionally, the chemical edge-removing solvent is propylene glycol monomethyl ether, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate or cyclohexanone.
Optionally, after the developing process, the method further includes: and cleaning the edge of the wafer to remove the residual developer, wherein the cleaning width of the cleaning process is greater than or equal to the spraying width of the developer sprayed in the developing process.
Optionally, the difference between the width of the cleaning process and the width of the developer spray in the developing process is 1mm to 2 mm.
Optionally, the method of cleaning treatment includes: and spraying a cleaning agent to the edge of the wafer, and rotating the wafer around the central axis of the wafer while spraying the cleaning agent.
Optionally, the cleaning agent is pure water or deionized water.
Optionally, the photoresist film is made of a positive photoresist material; the developer is TMAH developer.
The invention also provides a photoresist edge removing machine in the NTD process, which comprises: the exposure system is used for carrying out exposure treatment on the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer; and the positive-tone photoresist developing system is used for developing the photoresist film exposed by the exposure system by adopting a positive-tone photoresist developing process to remove the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer.
Optionally, the positive photoresist developing system includes a positive photoresist developing unit and a cleaning unit; the positive photoresist developing unit is used for carrying out a positive photoresist developing process; the cleaning unit is used for cleaning the edge of the wafer and removing the residual developer after the positive photoresist developing process.
Optionally, the positive photoresist developing unit includes: the developer nozzle is used for spraying developer to the edge of the wafer; the cleaning unit includes: and the cleaning agent nozzle is used for spraying a cleaning agent to the edge of the wafer, and when the positive photoresist developing system is in a working state, the cleaning agent nozzle is closer to the center of the wafer than the developer nozzle.
Optionally, the positive tone photoresist developing system further includes: the supporting part is used for bearing the developer nozzle and the cleaning agent nozzle, and the developer nozzle and the cleaning agent nozzle are arranged in parallel; and the mechanical arm is used for driving the supporting part to move to a specified position.
Optionally, when the positive photoresist developing system is in a working state, the distance between the cleaning agent nozzle and the developer nozzle is 1mm to 2mm in a direction parallel to the surface of the wafer.
Optionally, the photoresist edge removing machine further includes: and the chemical edge removing unit is used for carrying out a chemical edge removing process on the photoresist film at the edge of the wafer before carrying out exposure treatment on the photoresist film at the edge of the wafer.
Optionally, the exposure system includes: the first carrying platform is used for carrying a wafer and is also suitable for driving the wafer to rotate around the central axis of the wafer; the positive tone photoresist developing system further comprises: and the second carrying platform is used for carrying the wafer and is also suitable for driving the wafer to rotate around the central axis of the wafer.
Compared with the prior art, the technical scheme of the invention has the following advantages:
in the technical scheme of the photoresistance trimming method in the NTD process, the photoresist film at the edge of the wafer is exposed, and the boundary of the photoresistance trimming is defined by adopting an exposure mode; and then, developing the exposed photoresist film by adopting a developer in a positive photoresist developing process to remove the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer. Because the boundary of the photoresist edge is defined by adopting the exposure mode, the precision and the uniformity are high, when the photoresist film after exposure is developed and removed by adopting the positive photoresist developing process, the precision and the uniformity of the photoresist edge are good, the obvious problem of large and small edges can not occur, and the edge roughness of the residual photoresist film is better. The invention solves the problem of poor precision and uniformity of photoresist edge removal by adopting a chemical edge removal method in the traditional NTD process.
In the alternative, the spraying width of the sprayed developer is greater than or equal to the exposure width of the exposure process during the development process, ensuring that the photoresist film subjected to the exposure process is completely removed.
In an alternative scheme, before exposure treatment, center calibration is carried out on the wafer, so that the center of the wafer is overlapped with the central axis of the wafer when the wafer rotates, the purpose that the wafer does not deviate when the wafer rotates is achieved, and the uniformity of a photoresist edge removing result is better.
In an alternative scheme, before exposure treatment, a chemical edge removing process is carried out on the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer, wherein the width of the photoresist film removed by the chemical edge removing process is smaller than the exposure width of the exposure treatment. The chemical edge removing process firstly removes parts of the photoresist film which are more likely to cause pollution in the edge of the wafer, so that equipment is prevented from being polluted in the exposure treatment or development treatment process; in addition, because the width of the photoresist film removed by the chemical edge-removing process is smaller than the exposure width of the exposure treatment, the boundary of the photoresist edge-removing is still defined by the exposure treatment, thereby avoiding the problems of poor precision and uniformity of the chemical edge-removing process.
In an alternative scheme, after the developing treatment is carried out, the edge of the wafer is also cleaned to remove the residual developer, and the cleaning width of the cleaning treatment is larger than or equal to the spraying width of the sprayed developer in the developing treatment, so that the adverse effect of the residual developer on the patterned photoresist film in the subsequent NTD process is avoided.
The technical scheme of the photoresist edge removing machine in the NTD process comprises an exposure system and a positive photoresist developing system, wherein the exposure system is used for carrying out exposure treatment on a photoresist film on the edge of a wafer, and the positive photoresist developing system is used for carrying out development treatment on the photoresist film subjected to the exposure treatment by the exposure system by adopting a positive photoresist developing process to remove the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer. Therefore, the photoresist edge removing machine provided by the invention can be used for performing photoresist edge removal in an NTD (non-volatile memory) process by adopting an exposure mode and a development mode, and the accuracy of a photoresist edge removing result is improved.
Drawings
Fig. 1 to 8 are schematic structural diagrams illustrating a photoresist trimming method in an NTD process according to an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a positive tone photoresist developing system according to the present embodiment;
fig. 10 is a schematic view of a developer nozzle spraying developer to the edge of the wafer.
Detailed Description
According to the background art, the photoresist edge removal quality in the NTD process of the prior art needs to be improved.
For positive photoresist (positive tone resist), in the conventional positive tone resist development technology, an exposed area is removed by development, and a non-exposed area is retained; in the negative photoresist developing technology, the exposed area is reserved, and the non-exposed area is removed by developing. In the current wafer edge exposure method, before exposure, the edge area of the wafer is first pre-exposed, and then the edge cleaning operation is completed in the developing process.
Since the exposed region in the NTD technique is preserved, the current wafer edge exposure method is not suitable for the photoresist edge removal in the NTD technique. The photoresist trimming method adopted in the NTD technology comprises the following steps: prior to the exposure process, the conventional EBR method is usually used, i.e. coating the photoresist and then washing the edge with a solvent. Therefore, the definition accuracy of the boundary of the photoresist edge-washing in the NTD technique needs to be improved, and the uniformity of the photoresist edge-removing is poor.
In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a method for removing edges of photoresist, comprising: providing a wafer, wherein a photoresist film is coated on the wafer; exposing the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer; and developing the photoresist film after exposure treatment by adopting a developer in a positive photoresist developing process, and removing the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer.
According to the invention, the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer is exposed firstly, and the boundary of the photoresist edge is defined in an exposure mode, so that the boundary of the photoresist edge is high in precision and good in uniformity, the problem of obvious large and small edges is avoided, and the roughness of the edge of the photoresist film after the photoresist edge is removed is good.
In order to make the aforementioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention comprehensible, embodiments accompanied with figures are described in detail below.
Fig. 1 to 8 are schematic structural views illustrating a photoresist trimming method in an NTD process according to an embodiment of the invention.
Referring to fig. 1 and 2, fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view, and fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view along the direction of AA1 in fig. 1, wherein an AA1 provides a wafer 101 through a diameter of the wafer 101, and the wafer 101 is coated with a photoresist film 102.
The wafer 101 may be a silicon substrate, a germanium substrate, a silicon carbide substrate, a gallium arsenide substrate, or an indium gallium arsenide substrate, and the wafer 101 may also be a silicon substrate on an insulator. And semiconductor devices such as PMOS transistors, NMOS transistors, CMOS transistors, resistors, capacitors, or inductors may also be present in the wafer 101.
In this embodiment, the wafer 101 is circular.
The photoresist film 102 is made of a positive photoresist material. A photoresist film 102 is coated on the wafer 101 by a spin coating process. Specifically, the wafer 101 is placed on a stage, and a photoresist nozzle is moved to the upper part of the wafer 101; photoresist is sprayed on the wafer 101 through the photoresist nozzle, and the carrier drives the wafer 101 to rotate while the photoresist is sprayed, so that the photoresist is uniformly coated on the wafer 101, and the photoresist film 102 is formed.
In the process of rotating the wafer 101 to uniformly coat the photoresist on the wafer 101, the photoresist is accumulated at the edge of the wafer 101 under the action of centrifugal force; in addition, there may be photoresist build-up on the wafer 101 edge sidewalls as well.
For this, the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101 is exposed, and the exposed photoresist film 102 is removed.
In this embodiment, in order to prevent the contamination of the robot arm or the contamination of the wafer 101 stage during the subsequent exposure process or the development process, before the exposure process, a chemical edge-removing process is performed on the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101. The chemical edge-removing process of the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101 will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Referring to fig. 3 and 4, fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view, and fig. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along direction AA1 in fig. 3, wherein a chemical edge-removing process 103 is performed on the photoresist film 102 at the edge of the wafer 101.
In this embodiment, the width of the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101 to be removed is the trimming width, and the width W1 of the photoresist film 102 removed by the chemical trimming process 103 is smaller than the trimming width, so that the width W1 of the photoresist film 102 removed by the chemical trimming process 103 is smaller than the exposure width of the subsequent exposure process.
Due to the centrifugal force in the process of coating the photoresist film 102, the farther the edge region of the wafer 101 is from the center of the wafer 101, the more the amount of the deposited photoresist is, so that the deposited photoresist is more likely to fall off to pollute a mechanical arm or a carrying platform in the process equipment; the chemical edge-removing process 103 can remove the photoresist with a relatively larger accumulation amount, thereby avoiding the problem of photoresist contamination in the subsequent exposure process or development process.
Moreover, since the width W1 of the photoresist film 102 removed by the chemical edge-removing process 103 is smaller than the exposure width of the exposure process, the boundary of the final photoresist film 102 is defined by the exposure process after the photoresist edge-removing process, which avoids the problems of poor accuracy and uniformity of boundary definition in the chemical edge-removing process 103.
The method of the chemical edge deletion process 103 includes: and spraying a chemical edge-removing solvent to the photoresist film 102 at the edge of the wafer 101, wherein the spraying width W1 of the chemical edge-removing solvent is smaller than the exposure width of the subsequent exposure treatment. Specifically, while spraying the chemical edge-removing solvent, the wafer 101 is rotated around the central axis of the wafer 101, so that the chemical edge-removing solvent is sprayed on the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the whole wafer 101.
In this embodiment, the chemical edge-removing solvent is Propylene Glycol Monomethyl Ether (PGME). In other embodiments, the chemical edge deletion solvent may also be Propylene Glycol Monomethyl Ether Acetate (PGMEA) or cycloethanone.
Referring to fig. 5 and 6, fig. 5 is a schematic perspective view, and fig. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the direction AA1 in fig. 3, for performing an exposure process 104 on the photoresist film 102 at the edge of the wafer 101.
The exposure width W1 of the exposure process 104 is equal to the trimming width in the photoresist trimming process. Therefore, the exposure width W2 of the exposure process 104 is determined according to the width of the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101 to be removed.
The method of the exposure process 104 includes: providing an exposure light source; and irradiating the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101 by using the exposure light source, and simultaneously rotating the wafer 101 around the central axis of the wafer 101.
The exposure light source includes: a light source located above the wafer 101; a mask having a light transmissive region over the wafer 101. Light emitted by the light source is irradiated on the edge of the wafer 101 through the light-transmitting area, so that the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101 is pre-exposed.
In this embodiment, the exposure width W2 of the exposure process 104 is equal to the width of the light irradiated on the edge of the wafer 101. Due to the chemical edge removal process 103 (refer to fig. 4) that is previously experienced, light is also irradiated on the surface of the wafer 101 exposed in the edge of the wafer 101 during the exposure process 104.
The exposure boundary of the exposure process 104 defines the boundary for subsequent removal of the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101. In the exposure process 104, the boundary definition for exposing the photoresist film 102 on the wafer 101 has high accuracy, so that the boundary accuracy of the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101 to be removed later is high.
In order to improve the uniformity of the exposure boundary defined by the exposure process 104, before the exposure process 104, the method further includes: and performing center calibration on the wafer 101 to enable the center of the wafer 101 to be overlapped with the center axis of the wafer 101 during rotation, so that the purpose of preventing the wafer 101 from being eccentric during rotation is ensured, and the exposure widths of the edges of the wafer 101 subjected to exposure treatment 104 are consistent.
In this embodiment, the width of the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101 to be removed is 0.5mm to 3mm, and the exposure width W2 of the exposure process 104 is 0.5mm to 3mm, for example, 0.5mm, 1mm, 2mm, or 3 mm. In other embodiments, the exposure width of the exposure process is adjusted according to the width of the photoresist film at the edge of the wafer to be removed.
It should also be noted that in other embodiments, the chemical edge-removing process may not be performed on the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer before the exposure process.
Referring to fig. 7 and 8, fig. 7 is a schematic perspective view, and fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view along the AA1 direction in fig. 7, in which a developer in a Positive tone resist development Process (PTD) is used to perform a developing process 105 on the photoresist film 102 after the exposure process 104 (see fig. 5 and 6), so as to remove the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101.
Specifically, the method of the development process 105 includes: spraying the developer to the photoresist film 102 after the exposure treatment 104; and the wafer 101 is rotated around the central axis of the wafer 101 while the developer is sprayed, so that the developer is sprayed on the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the whole wafer 101 until the photoresist film 102 after the exposure treatment 104 is developed and removed.
In the present embodiment, the spray width of the sprayed developer is equal to the exposure width W2 (refer to fig. 5 and 6) of the exposure process 104. In other embodiments, in order to ensure that the photoresist film subjected to the exposure process is completely developed and removed, the spray width of the spray developer may be greater than the exposure width of the exposure process.
In this embodiment, the developer is sprayed onto the photoresist film 102 after the exposure processing 104, and at the same time, the wafer 101 is rotated around the central axis of the wafer 101, so as to ensure that the developer is sprayed onto the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the entire wafer 101. In this embodiment, the developing agent used in the positive photoresist developing process is TMAH developing solution.
After the development processing 105 is performed, the method further includes: and cleaning the edge of the wafer 101 to remove the residual developer. In order to ensure the removing effect of the cleaning process on the residual developer, the cleaning width of the cleaning process is greater than or equal to the spraying width of the sprayed developer in the developing process.
In this embodiment, the difference between the cleaning width of the cleaning process and the spraying width of the sprayed developer is 1mm to 2 mm. The method of cleaning treatment comprises: and spraying cleaning agent to the edge of the wafer 101, and rotating the wafer 101 around the central axis of the wafer 101 while spraying the cleaning agent. Wherein the cleaning agent is pure water or deionized water.
The traditional NTD process adopts an EBR method to realize photoresist trimming in the NID process, so the boundary precision range of the photoresist trimming is about +/-0.3 mm. In the invention, the WEE method is combined with the developing method in the PTD process to realize the photoresist trimming in the NTD process, so that the boundary accuracy of the photoresist trimming is higher, and the boundary accuracy range of the photoresist trimming in the invention can reach +/-0.1 mm; meanwhile, the boundary of the photoresist edge is defined by the exposure method adopted in the invention, so that the accuracy of the boundary of the photoresist edge is higher, and the edge roughness of the photoresist film after the photoresist edge is removed is correspondingly improved.
In addition, in the invention, the center of the wafer is also calibrated before the exposure treatment, so that the photoresist edge removing result has better uniformity and no obvious edge size problem.
Correspondingly, the invention also provides a photoresist edge removing machine for realizing the photoresist edge removing method in the NTD process, so that the photoresist edge removing in the NTD process can be realized by adopting a WEE method and combining a developing method in the PTD process.
The photoresistance edge removing machine in the NTD process comprises: the exposure system is used for carrying out exposure treatment on the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer; and the positive-tone photoresist developing system is used for developing the photoresist film exposed by the exposure system by adopting a positive-tone photoresist developing process to remove the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer.
The photoresist edge remover in the NTD process provided in this embodiment will be described in detail below.
The exposure system includes: the first carrying platform is used for carrying a wafer and is also suitable for driving the wafer to rotate around the central axis of the wafer; and the exposure light source is positioned above the first carrying platform and is used for exposing the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer.
The exposure light source includes: an ultraviolet light source positioned above the first stage; a mask positioned between the ultraviolet light source and the first stage, the mask having a light-transmissive region therein.
In this embodiment, the ultraviolet light source is a mercury lamp.
The exposure system further includes: and the mechanical arm is used for moving the exposure light source, and when the exposure system needs to be adopted to expose the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer, the mechanical arm moves the exposure light source to a specified position, so that the light-transmitting area of the photomask is positioned above the edge of the wafer, and the light emitted by the exposure light source is ensured to irradiate the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer.
In addition, in the process that the exposure system irradiates the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer, the first carrying platform drives the wafer to rotate around the center of the wafer, so that the photoresist film on the edge of the whole wafer is irradiated.
In this embodiment, the exposure system further includes a calibration unit, where the calibration unit is configured to perform center calibration on the wafer before performing irradiation processing on the wafer, so as to improve uniformity of exposure processing on the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer.
The positive tone photoresist developing system comprises a positive tone photoresist developing unit and a cleaning unit.
The positive photoresist developing unit is used for carrying out a positive photoresist developing process, specifically, carrying out the positive photoresist developing process on the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer after exposure treatment, and carrying out developing treatment on the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer by adopting a developer in the positive photoresist developing process to remove the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer.
The cleaning unit is used for cleaning the edge of the wafer, removing the residual developer after the positive photoresist developing process, and avoiding the adverse effect of the residual developer on the process of the photoresist film on the subsequent patterned wafer.
Fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of the positive tone photoresist developing system provided in this embodiment, and for convenience of illustration and description, fig. 9 further illustrates a wafer 101 and a photoresist film 102 on the wafer 101. Referring to fig. 9, the positive tone photoresist developing unit includes:
the developer nozzle 201 is used for spraying a developer to the edge of the wafer 101, wherein the developer is used in the positive photoresist developing process; a developer pipe (not shown) connected to the developer nozzle 201, the developer optical path being for conveying the developer to the developer nozzle 201;
the cleaning unit includes:
a cleaning agent nozzle 202, configured to spray a cleaning agent to an edge of the wafer 101, where when the positive photoresist developing system is in an operating state, the cleaning agent nozzle 202 is closer to a center of the wafer 101 than the developer nozzle 201; a cleaning agent line (not shown) connected to the cleaning agent nozzle 202 for conveying cleaning agent to the cleaning agent nozzle 202.
When the positive tone photoresist developing system is in a working state, the developer nozzle 201 moves to a designated position, and the designated position is designated that the width of the developer nozzle 201 spraying the developer to the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer 101 is equal to the exposure width of the exposure treatment. And when the positive photoresist developing system is in a working state, the wafer 101 is rotated around the central axis of the wafer 101, so that the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the whole wafer 101 is ensured to be developed by the developer.
In order to ensure the effect of cleaning the residual developer by the cleaning unit, the distance between the cleaning agent nozzle 202 and the developer nozzle 201 is not too short; moreover, in order to avoid the cleaning agent sprayed on the wafer 101 from adversely affecting the residual photoresist film 102, the distance between the cleaning agent nozzle 202 and the developer nozzle 201 should not be too long. For this reason, in this embodiment, when the positive photoresist developing system is in an operating state, the distance between the cleaning agent nozzle 202 and the developer nozzle 201 in a direction parallel to the surface of the wafer 101 is 1mm to 2 mm.
Referring to fig. 10 in combination, fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of the developer nozzle 201 spraying the developer to the edge of the wafer 101. In this embodiment, a vertical plane where the developer nozzle 201 is located is parallel to a circumferential tangent of a developer drop point ejected from the developer nozzle 201, and an included angle of 45 ° is formed between the vertical plane where the developer nozzle 201 is located and a tangent B of the rotation direction of the wafer 101, where the vertical plane is a plane where the developer nozzle 201 is located and is perpendicular to the surface of the wafer 101.
In order to reduce the difficulty in the routine maintenance of the photoresist edge removing machine in the NTD process, only one of the developer nozzle 201 or the cleaning agent nozzle 202 needs to be calibrated in the routine maintenance, in this embodiment, the distance between the developer nozzle 201 and the cleaning agent nozzle 202 is fixed, and the developer nozzle 201 and the cleaning agent nozzle 202 are fixedly arranged on the same supporting portion 203.
Specifically, in this embodiment, the positive photoresist developing system further includes:
a support 203, wherein the support 203 is used for carrying the developer nozzle 201 and the cleaning agent nozzle 202, and the developer nozzle 201 and the cleaning agent nozzle 202 are arranged in parallel;
the mechanical arm 204 is used for driving the supporting portion 203 to move to a specified position by the mechanical arm 204.
In this embodiment, the developer nozzle 201 and the cleaning agent nozzle 202 are suspended in parallel on the support 203.
The positive tone photoresist developing system further comprises: and a second stage (not shown) for carrying the wafer 101, wherein the second stage is further adapted to drive the wafer 101 to rotate around the central axis of the wafer 101.
The working principle of the positive tone photoresist developing system is as follows: the developer nozzle 201 sprays developer to the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101, the second carrying platform drives the wafer 101 to rotate around the central axis of the wafer 101 while spraying the developer, and after the wafer 101 rotates for a certain number of turns, the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101 subjected to exposure treatment is dissolved by the developer; the developer nozzle 201 stops spraying the developer to the wafer 101, the cleaning agent nozzle 202 sprays the cleaning agent to the edge of the wafer 101, the second carrying platform drives the wafer 101 to rotate around the central axis of the wafer 101 while the cleaning agent is sprayed, and the sprayed cleaning agent is used for preventing or removing the developer residue.
In other embodiments, the developer nozzle and the cleaning agent nozzle may be fixed to different support portions.
In this embodiment, in order to prevent the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101 from contaminating the exposure system or the positive photoresist developing system, the photoresist edge removing machine further includes: and the chemical edge removing unit is used for performing a chemical edge removing process on the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101 before performing exposure processing on the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101.
The chemical edge-removing unit can remove the part of the photoresist film 102 which is easy to cause pollution in the edge of the wafer 101, thereby avoiding polluting an exposure system or a positive tone photoresist developing system.
The chemical trimming unit comprises: the third carrying platform is used for carrying the wafer 101 and is also suitable for driving the wafer 101 to rotate around the central axis of the wafer 101; the chemical edge-removing solvent nozzle is used for spraying a chemical edge-removing solvent to the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101 so as to perform a chemical edge-removing process on the photoresist film 102 on the edge of the wafer 101; a robotic arm for moving the chemical edge-removal solvent nozzle to a specified position.
According to the photoresist edge removing machine in the NTD process, provided by the invention, the positive photoresist developing system is added in the conventional photoresist edge removing machine, so that the photoresist edge washing width can be defined in the NTD process by an exposure mode, and the photoresist edge washing work can be completed by adopting developer dissolution, so that the photoresist edge removing precision and uniformity are improved.
Although the present invention is disclosed above, the present invention is not limited thereto. Various changes and modifications may be effected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
Claims (12)
1. A photoresist trimming method in NTD process is characterized by comprising the following steps:
providing a wafer, wherein a photoresist film is coated on the wafer;
exposing the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer;
developing the photoresist film after exposure treatment by adopting a developer in a positive photoresist developing process to remove the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer;
the photoresist film is made of a positive photoresist material; the developer is TMAH developer.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the developing process comprises: and spraying the developer to the photoresist film after the exposure treatment until the photoresist film after the exposure treatment is developed and removed, wherein the spraying width of the sprayed developer is greater than or equal to the exposure width of the exposure treatment.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the wafer is rotated around a central axis of the wafer while the developer is sprayed on the exposed photoresist film.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the exposure process comprises: providing an exposure light source; and irradiating the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer by adopting the exposure light source, and simultaneously enabling the wafer to rotate around the central axis of the wafer.
5. The method of claim 1 or 4, wherein before the exposing, the method further comprises: and carrying out center calibration on the wafer, so that the center of the wafer is coincident with the central axis of the wafer when the wafer rotates.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein before the exposing, the method further comprises:
and carrying out a chemical edge removing process on the photoresist film at the edge of the wafer, wherein the width of the photoresist film removed by the chemical edge removing process is smaller than the exposure width of the exposure treatment.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the chemical edge-removing process comprises: and spraying a chemical edge-removing solvent to the photoresist film on the edge of the wafer, rotating the wafer around the central axis of the wafer while spraying the chemical edge-removing solvent, wherein the spraying width of the chemical edge-removing solvent is smaller than the exposure width of the exposure treatment.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the chemical edge-removing solvent is propylene glycol monomethyl ether, propylene glycol monomethyl ether acetate, or cyclohexanone.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein after the developing process, the method further comprises: and cleaning the edge of the wafer to remove the residual developer, wherein the cleaning width of the cleaning process is greater than or equal to the spraying width of the developer sprayed in the developing process.
10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the difference between the width of the rinsing process and the width of the developer spray in the developing process is 1mm to 2 mm.
11. The method of claim 9, wherein the cleaning process comprises: and spraying a cleaning agent to the edge of the wafer, and rotating the wafer around the central axis of the wafer while spraying the cleaning agent.
12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the cleaning agent is pure water or deionized water.
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| CN113138535A (en) * | 2020-01-17 | 2021-07-20 | 夏泰鑫半导体(青岛)有限公司 | Photoresist coating device and photoresist coating method |
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