CN113050378B - Energy adjusting device, energy adjusting method, illumination system and photoetching machine - Google Patents
Energy adjusting device, energy adjusting method, illumination system and photoetching machine Download PDFInfo
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- CN113050378B CN113050378B CN201911379586.6A CN201911379586A CN113050378B CN 113050378 B CN113050378 B CN 113050378B CN 201911379586 A CN201911379586 A CN 201911379586A CN 113050378 B CN113050378 B CN 113050378B
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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
- G03F7/70—Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor
- G03F7/70058—Mask illumination systems
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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
- G03F7/70—Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor
- G03F7/70058—Mask illumination systems
- G03F7/70075—Homogenization of illumination intensity in the mask plane by using an integrator, e.g. fly's eye lens, facet mirror or glass rod, by using a diffusing optical element or by beam deflection
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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
- G03F7/70—Microphotolithographic exposure; Apparatus therefor
- G03F7/70058—Mask illumination systems
- G03F7/70133—Measurement of illumination distribution, in pupil plane or field plane
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- Exposure And Positioning Against Photoresist Photosensitive Materials (AREA)
- Exposure Of Semiconductors, Excluding Electron Or Ion Beam Exposure (AREA)
Abstract
The invention discloses an energy adjusting device, an energy adjusting method, an illuminating system and a photoetching machine. The energy conditioning device includes: the device comprises a light homogenizing unit, a light intensity adjusting unit, a light intensity measuring unit and a control unit, wherein the light intensity adjusting unit and the light intensity measuring unit are respectively connected with the control unit; the dodging unit comprises an incident end and an emergent end which are arranged oppositely, and a side wall which connects the incident end and the emergent end; at least part of the side wall of the dodging unit is coated by the light intensity adjusting unit; the light intensity measuring unit is used for measuring the actual light intensity of the emergent end of the light uniformizing unit and feeding back the actual light intensity to the control unit; the control unit is used for adjusting the light intensity adjusting unit and/or the dodging unit so as to adjust the contact area between the dodging unit and the dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit, so that the actual light intensity is equal to the required light intensity. The technical scheme of the invention can simplify the energy adjusting device and mode, and has low process requirement; thereby reducing the cost, improving the production efficiency and the yield, and being beneficial to improving the economic applicability.
Description
Technical Field
The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of integrated circuit equipment manufacturing, in particular to an energy adjusting device, an energy adjusting method, an illuminating system and a photoetching machine.
Background
A Mask Aligner, also known as a lithography system, an exposure system or a Mask alignment exposure machine, is an apparatus that performs a lithography process in a semiconductor manufacturing process. Photolithography is a process of forming a pattern using light. For example, photolithography may refer to a process of transferring a pattern on a mask plate to a photoresist using light. In a lithographic process, control of exposure dose (also referred to herein simply as "dose") can affect the quality of the lithographic process. When the photoetching machine is used for step exposure, the shortest exposure time of the shutter under the condition of high illumination cannot meet the requirement of controlling the small dose, and the illumination adjustment of an exposure subsystem needs to be quickly realized at the moment so that the shutter can meet the requirement of exposure of the small dose; when the photoetching machine is used for scanning exposure, under the condition of high illumination intensity, the synchronous scanning time of a workpiece table, a movable knife edge of a scanner and the like cannot meet the requirement of controlling exposure energy of small dose, and the illumination intensity also needs to be adjusted at the time.
Usually, the adjustment of the illumination is performed by mechanical or optical adjustment of a variable laser attenuator. The mechanical VA attenuation is generally used in a mercury lamp convergence light path, and the attenuation of different illumination gears is realized by designing light through holes with different duty ratios; the adjustment amount is discontinuous. The optical VA attenuation is generally used under the condition of a laser light source, and when parallel light passes through a collimation incidence optical filter, energy adjustment is realized by changing an incidence angle according to the difference of transmittances of different incidence angles; the structure is complex and the cost is high.
Disclosure of Invention
The invention provides an energy adjusting device, an energy adjusting method illumination system and a photoetching machine, which are used for simplifying the energy adjusting device and the energy adjusting method and have low process requirements; and is favorable for reducing the cost and improving the production efficiency and the yield, thereby being favorable for improving the economic applicability.
In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an energy conditioning device, including: the device comprises a light homogenizing unit, a light intensity adjusting unit, a light intensity measuring unit and a control unit, wherein the light intensity adjusting unit and the light intensity measuring unit are respectively connected with the control unit;
the dodging unit comprises an incident end and an emergent end which are arranged oppositely, and a side wall which connects the incident end and the emergent end; at least part of the side wall of the dodging unit is coated by the light intensity adjusting unit;
the light intensity measuring unit is used for measuring the actual light intensity of the emergent end of the dodging unit and feeding the actual light intensity back to the control unit;
the control unit is used for adjusting the light intensity adjusting unit and/or the light homogenizing unit so as to adjust the contact area of the light homogenizing unit and the dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit, so that the actual light intensity is equal to the required light intensity.
Further, the refractive index of the dimming medium is larger than that of the dodging unit.
Further, the dodging unit comprises a dodging rod.
Further, the dodging rod comprises a quartz rod.
Further, the light intensity adjusting unit includes at least one light intensity adjusting subunit;
the light intensity adjusting subunit comprises a liquid level detection container and a liquid level compensation container which are communicated with each other, and the dimming medium which is arranged in the liquid level detection container and the liquid level compensation container in a built-in mode;
the light uniformizing unit is fixedly inserted into the liquid level detection container of the at least one light intensity adjusting subunit;
the control unit is used for adjusting the contact area between the light uniformizing unit and the dimming medium.
Further, the light uniformizing unit is vertically arranged;
the control unit is used for adjusting the pressure of gas above the dimming medium in the liquid level compensation container so as to adjust the liquid level position of the dimming medium in the liquid level detection container.
Further, the height of the light uniformizing unit along the vertical direction is greater than or equal to the sum of the heights of the liquid level detection containers in the light intensity adjusting subunits along the vertical direction.
Further, the refractive indexes of the dimming media in the light intensity adjusting subunits are different from each other.
Further, the light intensity adjusting subunit further comprises a sealing layer;
the dimming medium in the level detection container is sealed by the sealing layer.
Further, the light intensity measuring unit comprises an energy detector, and the control unit comprises a computer.
In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an energy conditioning method, which can be performed by using any one of the energy conditioning apparatuses provided in the first aspect, and the energy conditioning method includes:
the light intensity measuring unit measures the actual light intensity of the emergent end of the dodging unit and feeds the actual light intensity back to the control unit;
the control unit adjusts the light intensity adjusting unit and/or the dodging unit according to the difference between the actual light intensity and the required light intensity so as to adjust the contact area between the dodging unit and a dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit, so that the actual light intensity is equal to the required light intensity.
Further, the light intensity adjusting unit includes at least one light intensity adjusting subunit;
the control unit adjusts the light intensity adjusting unit and/or the dodging unit according to the difference between the actual light intensity and the required light intensity so as to adjust the contact area between the dodging unit and a dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit, and the actual light intensity is equal to the required light intensity, and the control unit comprises:
the control unit firstly adjusts the first light intensity adjusting subunit and then adjusts the second light intensity adjusting subunit according to the difference between the actual light intensity and the required light intensity so as to adjust the contact area between the dodging unit and the dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit, so that the actual light intensity is equal to the required light intensity;
wherein the refractive index of the dimming medium in the first light intensity adjusting subunit is larger than the refractive index of the dimming medium in the second light intensity adjusting subunit.
In a third aspect, embodiments of the present invention further provide a lighting system, which includes any one of the energy conditioning devices provided in the first aspect.
Further, the lighting system also comprises a mercury lamp, a coupling lens group, a relay lens group and a mask plate;
light emitted by the mercury lamp sequentially passes through the coupling lens group, the energy adjusting device and the relay lens group to form a uniform illumination view field on the mask plate.
In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the invention also provide a lithographic apparatus that includes any one of the illumination systems provided in the third aspect.
The energy adjusting device provided by the embodiment of the invention is provided with the light homogenizing unit, the light intensity adjusting unit, the light intensity measuring unit and the control unit, wherein the light intensity adjusting unit and the light intensity measuring unit are respectively connected with the control unit; the dodging unit comprises an incident end and an emergent end which are arranged oppositely, and a side wall which connects the incident end and the emergent end; at least part of the side wall of the light homogenizing unit is coated by the light intensity adjusting unit; the light intensity measuring unit is used for measuring the actual light intensity of the emergent end of the light uniformizing unit and feeding back the actual light intensity to the control unit; the control unit is used for adjusting the light intensity adjusting unit and/or the dodging unit so as to adjust the contact area between the dodging unit and the dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit, so that the actual light intensity is equal to the required light intensity, the energy adjusting device and the energy adjusting mode can be simplified, and the process requirement is low; meanwhile, the cost can be reduced, and the production efficiency and the yield are improved, so that the economic applicability is improved.
Drawings
In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, a brief description will be given below of the drawings required for the embodiments or the technical solutions in the prior art, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without creative efforts.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an energy conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a structure of the light unifying unit in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of another energy conditioner according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an energy simulation result according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating results of another energy simulation provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating still another energy simulation result provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of another energy conditioner provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating still another energy simulation result provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating still another energy simulation result provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating still another energy simulation result provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a pupil division approach provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of another pupil division approach provided by embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of yet another pupil division approach provided by embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of yet another pupil division approach provided by embodiments of the present invention;
FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram of a pupil uniformity simulated pinhole distribution provided by an embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 16 is a schematic flow chart diagram of a method for regulating energy according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 17 is a schematic flow chart diagram of another energy conditioning method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of an illumination system provided in the embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a lithography machine according to an embodiment of the invention.
Detailed Description
The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. It is to be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative of the invention and are not limiting of the invention. It should be further noted that, for the convenience of description, only some of the structures related to the present invention are shown in the drawings, not all of the structures.
Examples
With the development of a photoetching machine, the requirement on the energy consistency of an exposure subsystem in a multi-view field splicing exposure system is higher and higher, the illumination regulation precision of the subsystem is also improved, and in order to solve the problem of accurate regulation of illumination under a mercury lamp light source, the energy regulation device provided by the embodiment of the invention is one of important solutions.
Referring to fig. 1 and 2, the energy conditioner 10 includes: the light source comprises a light homogenizing unit 110, a light intensity adjusting unit 120, a light intensity measuring unit 130 and a control unit 140, wherein the light intensity adjusting unit 120 and the light intensity measuring unit 130 are respectively connected with the control unit 140; the dodging unit 110 comprises an incident end 111 and an emergent end 112 which are oppositely arranged, and a side wall 113 connecting the incident end 111 and the emergent end 112; at least a part of the sidewall 113 of the light unifying unit 110 is covered by the light intensity adjusting unit 120; the light intensity measuring unit 130 is used for measuring the actual light intensity of the emergent end 112 of the dodging unit 110 and feeding back the actual light intensity to the control unit 140; the control unit 140 is used to adjust the light intensity adjusting unit 120 and/or the light unifying unit 110 to adjust the contact area of the light unifying unit 110 and the dimming medium 121 in the light intensity adjusting unit 120 so that the actual light intensity is equal to the required light intensity.
The light beam (or called light ray) enters the dodging unit 110 from the incident end 111 of the dodging unit 110, and then the light ray is reflected or refracted for multiple times at the sidewall 113 of the dodging unit 110 to form uniform illumination light on the plane where the exit end 112 of the dodging unit 110 is located, and then exits. When the energy (or intensity) of the incident light beam is constant, the energy (or illumination) of the emergent light beam can be adjusted by controlling the proportion of the refracted light beam and the reflected light beam, so that the exposure dose can be adjusted.
Illustratively, a part of the side wall 113 of the dodging unit 110 is in contact with air, and the light is totally reflected at the part of the side wall 113; the remaining portion of the sidewall 113 is in contact with the dimming medium 121 in the light intensity adjusting unit 120, and at the portion of the sidewall 113, the total reflection state of the light is broken, i.e., a portion of the light is refracted, and enters the dimming medium 121 from the dodging unit 110. Based on this, by adjusting the size of the contact area between the sidewall 113 and the dimming medium 121, the amount of the refracted light can be controlled, and the total amount of the light is constant, so that the energy emitted from the emitting end 113 of the dodging unit 110 can be controlled.
For example, for the purpose of adjusting the size of the contact area between the adjusting sidewall 113 and the dimming medium 121, the position of the light uniformizing unit 110 may be changed, or the position of the light intensity adjusting unit 120 may be changed, or the positions of the two may be changed simultaneously, or the form of the dimming medium 121 in the light intensity adjusting unit 120 may be adjusted, or other ways known to those skilled in the art may be used, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.
Illustratively, the dimming medium 121 is a fluid, and may be a liquid.
For example, the self-feedback operation of the energy conditioning device 10 may include: the incident beam with the initial energy E0 passes through the dodging unit 110 and then exits from the exit end 113; wherein, part of the light is refracted at the sidewall 113 where the dodging unit 110 contacts the dimming medium 121 in the light intensity adjusting unit 120 and leaks into the dimming medium 121, so that the energy carried by the part of the light is leaked; the light intensity measuring unit 130 measures the energy of the light beam emitted from the exit end 113 of the dodging unit 110, i.e. detects the actual light intensity of the emitted light beam, and transmits the actual light intensity to the control unit 140; the control unit 140 adjusts at least one of the light unifying unit 110 and the light intensity adjusting unit 120 according to the difference between the detected energy of the actual light intensity and the required energy value E1 (i.e., the energy value of the required light intensity) to change the contact area of the light unifying unit 110 and the dimming medium 121, thereby achieving the adjustment of the actual light intensity to the required energy value E1.
Therefore, the energy adjusting device 10 is simple in structure, simple, convenient and quick in adjusting mode and low in process difficulty; is beneficial to reducing the cost and improving the production efficiency and the yield, thereby improving the economic applicability of the method. Meanwhile, the contact area between the dodging unit 110 and the dimming medium 121 is continuously adjustable, so that the energy of the actual light intensity of the emitting end 113 can be continuously adjustable, that is, the illumination intensity can be continuously adjustable, the exposure requirements of current customers on the energy adjusting device 10 and the lithography machine comprising the energy adjusting device 10 can be met, and the competitiveness of the energy adjusting device and the lithography machine is improved.
Optionally, the refractive index of the dimming medium 121 is greater than the refractive index of the light unifying unit 110.
Thus, when the light is transmitted from the light homogenizing unit 110 to the light adjusting medium 121 through the sidewall 113 of the light homogenizing unit 110, a light transmission condition is formed, in which the light is transmitted from the light sparse medium to the light dense medium, so that the total reflection condition of the sidewall 113 of the light homogenizing unit 110 can be effectively destroyed, further the adjustment of the actual energy of the light beam emitted from the emitting end 113 of the light homogenizing unit 110 can be effectively realized, and the implementation mode is simple.
In other embodiments, the refractive index of the light-adjusting medium 121 may be smaller than or equal to the refractive index of the light-homogenizing unit 110, and at this time, the effect of destroying the total reflection condition may be achieved by adjusting the incident angle of the partial light in the incident light beam, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.
The refractive index of the light-adjusting medium 121 is larger than that of air, so that the light-adjusting medium 121 can be made of a wide range of selectable materials, and suitable materials can be selected flexibly.
Optionally, with continued reference to FIG. 1, the dodging unit 110 includes a dodging rod 115.
Thus, the structure of the light uniformizing unit 110 is simple, so that the difficulty of the collaborative design of the light uniformizing unit 110 and the light intensity adjusting unit 120 is low, and the cost is low.
It should be noted that the form of the light homogenizing rod 115 may be any form known to those skilled in the art, and the embodiment of the present invention is not described nor limited herein.
Optionally, the integrator rod 115 includes a quartz rod.
Among them, the quartz material has a small thermal expansion coefficient. By such arrangement, the energy conditioning device 10 can be applied to a wider temperature range, thereby being beneficial to improving the environmental adaptability of the energy conditioning device and the lithography machine and improving the competitiveness of the energy conditioning device and the lithography machine.
In other embodiments, the light homogenizing rod 115 may be made of other single or multiple materials known to those skilled in the art, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited thereto.
Alternatively, referring to fig. 3 and 7, the light intensity adjusting unit 120 includes at least one light intensity adjusting subunit 200; the light intensity adjusting subunit 200 includes a liquid level detecting container 210 and a liquid level compensating container 220, which are arranged in communication, and a dimming medium 121 which is arranged in the liquid level detecting container 210 and the liquid level compensating container 220; the light uniformizing unit 110 is inserted and fixed in the liquid level detection container 210 of at least one light intensity adjusting subunit 200; the control unit 140 is used for adjusting the contact area between the light uniformizing unit 110 and the dimming medium 121.
Illustratively, the light intensity adjusting unit 120 in fig. 3 includes one light intensity adjusting subunit 200, and the light intensity adjusting unit 120 in fig. 7 includes two light intensity adjusting subunits 200; in other embodiments, the light intensity adjusting unit 120 may further include three or more light intensity adjusting subunits 200, which may be set according to the actual requirements of the energy adjusting device 10, and the embodiment of the invention is not limited thereto.
The actual light intensity of the light beam emitted from the emitting end 113 of the dodging unit 110 can be adjusted by the synergistic effect of the light intensity adjusting subunits, so as to meet the adjustment requirement of the illuminance corresponding to different exposure doses, which is described below with reference to the refractive index of the dimming medium 121 in each light intensity adjusting subunit 200.
Illustratively, FIG. 7 only illustrates that the liquid level detection container 210 and the liquid level compensation container 220 are both square in shape; in other embodiments, the shapes of the liquid level detection container 210 and the liquid level compensation container 220 may be any shapes known to those skilled in the art, such as an air bag structure, a simple three-dimensional structure, or a combined three-dimensional structure, which is not limited by the embodiments of the present invention; the shapes of the two can be the same or different, and the embodiment of the invention is not limited to this.
It should be noted that, when the number of the light intensity adjusting subunits 200 is two or more, each light intensity adjusting subunit 200 may be the same or different, and may be set according to the actual requirement of the energy adjusting device 10, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.
For example, the material of the liquid level detection container 210 and the liquid level compensation container 220 may be a metal material, a plastic material, or other materials known to those skilled in the art, and the material of the two materials may be the same or different, and the embodiment of the invention is not limited thereto.
Optionally, with continued reference to fig. 3, the dodging unit 110 is vertically disposed; the control unit 140 is configured to adjust the pressure of the gas 122 above the dimming medium 121 in the level compensation container 220 to adjust the level position of the dimming medium 121 in the level detection container 210.
Therefore, the liquid level position of the dimming medium 121 in the liquid level detection container 210 can be adjusted by combining the action of gravity, the adjusting mode is simple, and the process requirement is low.
Illustratively, the liquid level compensation container 220 further comprises a position-variable regulating plate 124, and the regulating plate 124 is used for sealing the dimming medium 121 in the liquid level compensation container 220. Taking the range in fig. 3 as an example, the position of the adjusting plate 124 can be changed by changing the pressure of the gas 122 in the space above the adjusting plate 124, so as to release the dimming medium 121 after squeezing, and the liquid level in the liquid level detection container 210 can be changed by changing the liquid level in the liquid level compensation container 220 after communicating with the liquid level detection container 210, so as to change the depth of the dodging unit 110 immersed in the dimming medium 121.
Illustratively, the deeper the immersion depth of the dodging unit 110 is, the larger the contact area of the side wall 113 thereof with the dimming medium is, the more light is leaked, and the smaller the energy of the outgoing light beam is; conversely, the greater the energy of the outgoing beam.
It should be noted that, in order to prevent a situation that a part of liquid droplets may adhere to the light uniformizing unit 110 during the adjustment process, which results in an insufficient light uniformizing effect, the liquid level detecting container 210 in the embodiment of the present invention is disposed at the front end of the light uniformizing unit 110, i.e. near the exit end 112; and after the adjustment is finished, carrying out total reflection light uniformization for multiple times. Namely, the light uniformizing unit 110 performs the total reflection light uniformizing for a plurality of times on the basis of satisfying the total reflection times.
Optionally, with continued reference to fig. 7, the height H1 of the light uniformizing unit 110 in the vertical direction Z is greater than or equal to the sum H2 of the heights of the liquid level detecting containers 210 in each light intensity adjusting subunit 200 in the vertical direction Z (for example, H2 ═ H21+ H22).
With such an arrangement, the light uniformizing unit 110 can sequentially penetrate through the complete height of each liquid level detection container 210 in the vertical direction Z; thus, a change in the liquid level of the dimming medium 121 in the entire liquid level detection container 210 will induce a change in the energy of the outgoing light beam of the dodging unit 110. In this way, the energy variation range of the emergent light beam can be widened, thereby being beneficial to enlarging the energy adjusting range of the energy adjusting device 10, and being beneficial to meeting the illumination requirements of different exposure doses.
Alternatively, the refractive indexes of the dimming mediums 121 in the respective light intensity adjusting subunits 200 are different from each other.
Thus, the adjustment degrees of the energy of the outgoing light beams by the light intensity adjusting subunits 200 can be different, so that not only can the rough and fine adjustment of the energy be realized, but also the requirement on the control precision of the liquid level compensation container 220 can be reduced.
Illustratively, the number of the light intensity adjusting subunits 200 is two, which are respectively illustrated as the first light intensity adjusting subunit 2001 and the second light intensity adjusting subunit 2002 in fig. 7, and the refractive index of the dimming medium 121 (the first dimming medium 1211) in the first light intensity adjusting subunit 2001 is larger than the refractive index of the dimming medium 121 (the second dimming medium 1212) in the second light intensity adjusting subunit 2002. The larger the refractive index, the more light leakage. Based on this, the amount of change in the contact area of the sidewall 113 of the light unifying unit 110 and the dimming medium 121 is the same, and the energy change caused by the first dimming medium 1211 is larger than the energy change caused by the second dimming medium 1212.
At this time, the energy adjusting process may include: the control unit preferentially adjusts the first light intensity adjusting subunit 2001 according to the difference between the energy value of the outgoing light beam and the required energy, so as to realize coarse adjustment; thereafter, the second light intensity adjusting subunit 2002 is adjusted to realize fine adjustment; finally, the energy of the outgoing beam is made equal to the required energy value. Therefore, the small-dose exposure requirement of the exposure system can be realized, and the product competitiveness of the energy adjusting device and the photoetching machine is improved.
Optionally, the light intensity adjusting subunit 200 further includes a sealing layer 123; the dimming medium 121 in the level detection container 210 is sealed by the sealant 123.
So set up, can prevent that medium 121 of adjusting luminance from volatilizing to be favorable to avoiding polluting, and be favorable to ensureing the energy and adjust the precision, increase of service life.
In other embodiments, the dimming medium 121 can be a non-volatile or low-volatile fluid, and the specific volatility coefficient can be set according to the actual requirement of the energy adjusting apparatus 10, which is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention.
Illustratively, with continued reference to either FIG. 3 or FIG. 7, the communication port of the level detection vessel 210 is located at the bottom thereof. So configured, the dimming medium 121 in the liquid level detection container 210 can be completely released into the liquid level compensation container 220, so that the incident light beam can be output without energy loss. Therefore, the energy adjusting range is widened, and the illumination requirements of different exposure doses are met.
In other embodiments, the communication port of the liquid level detection container 210 may be disposed at other positions to meet the energy regulation requirement of the energy regulation device 10, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present invention.
Optionally, the light intensity measuring unit 130 comprises an energy detector, and the control unit 140 comprises a computer.
With this arrangement, the integration level of the light intensity detection unit 130 and the control unit 140 can be made high, which is advantageous for reducing the overall size of the energy conditioner 10 and realizing a compact design.
The energy adjusting device 10 provided by each of the above embodiments does not affect the related optical performance index when performing illumination adjustment, so that the product applicability of the energy adjusting device 10 and the lithography machine can be improved, and the exposure requirement can be met.
Next, the adjustment effect of the energy adjustment device 10 shown in fig. 3 and 7 is exemplarily described with reference to the simulation result.
For example, on the basis of the energy adjusting device 10 shown in fig. 3, simulation analysis is performed under the condition that the length of the dodging unit 110 is 275mm, so that the energy can be continuously adjusted within a range of 10% -100%, and the energy adjusting device is simple and convenient, has strong practicability, and does not affect optical performance indexes.
For example, the simulation analysis results in the related optical performance indexes shown in table 1.
Table 1 optical simulation table of the energy conditioner shown in fig. 3
Exemplary, different percentages of light energy attenuation pupil simulation plots are shown in fig. 4, 5, and 6, respectively. Wherein, figure 4 represents a simulation plot of a 70% light energy attenuation pupil, figure 5 represents a simulation plot of a 50% light energy attenuation pupil, and figure 6 represents a simulation plot of a 20% light energy attenuation pupil. In fig. 4 to 6, the abscissa represents the X-direction field of view and the ordinate represents the Y-direction field of view.
As can be seen from fig. 4, fig. 5, fig. 6 and table 1, the energy adjusting device shown in fig. 3 can achieve continuous adjustment of energy within a range of 10% to 100%, and does not affect the optical performance index.
For example, on the basis of the energy adjusting device 10 shown in fig. 7, simulation analysis is performed under the condition that the length of the dodging unit 110 is 275mm, so that the energy can be continuously adjusted within the range of 1% -100%, and the energy adjusting device is simple and convenient, has strong practicability, and does not affect the optical performance index.
For example, the simulation analysis results in the related optical performance index shown in table 2.
Table 2 optical simulation table of the energy conditioner shown in fig. 7
Exemplary, different percentages of light energy attenuation pupil simulation plots are shown in fig. 8, 9 and 10, respectively. Wherein, fig. 8 represents a simulation diagram of a 70% light energy attenuation pupil, fig. 9 represents a simulation diagram of a 50% light energy attenuation pupil, and fig. 10 represents a simulation diagram of a 20% light energy attenuation pupil. In fig. 8 to 10, the meanings of the abscissa, the ordinate and the legend are the same as those of fig. 4 to 6, and are not repeated here.
As can be seen from fig. 8, 9, 10 and table 2, the energy adjusting device shown in fig. 7 can achieve continuous adjustment of energy within a range of 1% to 100%, and does not affect the optical performance index.
The pupil simulation is explained below with reference to fig. 11 to 14.
The pupil ellipticity refers to the energy difference between the equal-area block areas on the pupil plane, and represents the asymmetry of the light path of the illumination module, namely the pupil ellipticity and the polar balance. There are different ways of evaluating the performance of the pupil. And In is the corresponding average light intensity In the pupil equal-area block region on the premise of constant total power. Pupil uniformity was examined in the following pupil division manner.
Illustratively, in the pupil division method shown in fig. 11 and 12, consider
Uniformity of pupil, i.e. obtaining equilibrium of pupil poles in X-directionAnd Y-direction pupil polar balance. In the pupil division method shown in fig. 13 and 14, consideration is given to
The four-quadrant pupil polar balance is obtained. In the pupil division method shown in fig. 13 and 14, consideration is given to
Two pupil ovalities (ovality 45 degrees, ovality 0 degrees) are obtained.
The index for evaluating different illumination patterns is different depending on the illumination pattern. Conventional and annular illumination modes, need to investigate U1Two polar equilibrium and U3Two ellipticity, four-level 0 ° and four-level 45 ° illumination modes, consider U in the division of FIGS. 13 and 14, respectively2The four quadrant limit balance.
Embodiments of the present invention employ conventional illumination modes. The simulation method comprises the following steps:
considering the light tracing capability of software, a baffle plate is added at the position of an illumination view field, a small hole is formed in the baffle plate, the diameter of the small hole is set to be 1mm, a detector is arranged at the position 10mm behind the small hole for receiving, and pupil polar balance and pupil ellipticity of different view field points of a mask surface are obtained after light tracing. Mask face pupil uniformity the simulated aperture distribution is shown in figure 15. Wherein detectors are built at four corner points of the field of view and along the diagonal field of view to simulate pupil polar balance and pupil ellipticity at different field of view points of the mask plane.
Based on the same inventive concept, an embodiment of the present invention further provides an energy adjustment method, which can be implemented by using any one of the energy adjustment devices provided in the foregoing embodiments, so that the energy adjustment method also has the technical effects of the energy adjustment device, and the same points can be understood by referring to the above explanation of the calibration measurement device, and are not described in detail below.
Illustratively, referring to fig. 16, the energy conditioning method includes:
s310, the light intensity measuring unit measures the actual light intensity of the emergent end of the dodging unit and feeds the actual light intensity back to the control unit.
After the light of the incident light beam enters the light uniformizing unit, the light is reflected or refracted, so that the energy of the emergent light beam is less than or equal to that of the incident light beam; the actual light intensity (i.e. energy) of the outgoing light beam can be detected by the light intensity measuring unit in preparation for subsequent adjustment of the light intensity.
S320, the control unit adjusts the light intensity adjusting unit and/or the dodging unit according to the difference between the actual light intensity and the required light intensity so as to adjust the contact area between the dodging unit and the dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit and enable the actual light intensity to be equal to the required light intensity.
Wherein, the larger the contact area is, the smaller the energy ratio of the outgoing beam to the incoming beam is. Based on this, if the actual light intensity is greater than the required light intensity, the contact area is increased; if the actual light intensity is less than the required light intensity, the contact area is reduced. Therefore, the actual light intensity is equal to the required light intensity finally through the self-feedback adjustment of the energy adjusting device.
Optionally, the light intensity adjusting unit comprises at least one light intensity adjusting subunit; for example, referring to fig. 7, the light intensity adjusting unit 120 may include a first light intensity adjusting subunit 2001 and a second light intensity adjusting subunit 2002, and the refractive index of the dimming medium 121 in the first light intensity adjusting subunit 2001 is greater than the refractive index of the dimming medium 121 in the second light intensity adjusting subunit 2002. On this basis, S320 may be refined to include a coarse tuning step and a fine tuning step. Illustratively, referring to fig. 17, the energy conditioning method may include:
s410, the light intensity measuring unit measures the actual light intensity of the emergent end of the dodging unit and feeds the actual light intensity back to the control unit.
S420, the control unit adjusts the first light intensity adjusting subunit and then adjusts the second light intensity adjusting subunit according to the difference between the actual light intensity and the required light intensity so as to adjust the contact area between the dodging unit and the dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit and enable the actual light intensity to be equal to the required light intensity.
Thus, coarse adjustment is performed first, and fine adjustment is performed later, so as to meet the requirement of low-dose exposure.
On the basis of the above embodiment, the embodiment of the invention further provides a lighting system. The lighting system comprises any one of the energy conditioning devices provided by the above embodiments. Therefore, the lighting system also has the technical effects of the energy regulating device provided by the above embodiments, and the same points can be understood by referring to the above explanation of the energy regulating device, and will not be described in detail below.
Exemplarily, referring to fig. 17, the illumination system 50 may further include a mercury lamp 510, a coupling lens group 520, a relay lens group 530, and a mask plate 540 in addition to the energy conditioner 10; the light emitted from the mercury lamp 510 sequentially passes through the coupling lens set 520, the energy adjusting device 10, and the relay lens set 530 to form a uniform illumination field on the mask plate 540.
The illumination of the illumination system can be accurately and continuously adjusted through the energy adjusting device, so that the requirement for continuously changing small-dose exposure can be met.
On the basis of the foregoing embodiments, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a lithography machine including any one of the illumination systems provided in the foregoing embodiments. Therefore, the lithography machine also has the technical effects of the energy regulating device and the illumination system provided by the above embodiments, and the same points can be understood by referring to the above explanation of the energy regulating device and the illumination system, and are not described in detail herein.
Illustratively, the lithography machine 60 includes an illumination system 50 and may further include a carrier unit 610. The carrying unit 60 is used for placing and fixing the substrate 620 to be illuminated. In this manner, the pattern on the mask plate 540 is transferred to the substrate 620 to be irradiated with light.
In other embodiments, the lithography machine 60 may further include other components known to those skilled in the art, which are not described or limited in this embodiment of the present invention.
According to the energy adjusting device, the energy adjusting method, the illuminating system and the photoetching machine provided by the embodiment of the invention, the total reflection condition of the surface of the light homogenizing rod is destroyed by using the light adjusting medium with high refractive index, so that the control and the adjustment of the small-dose exposure are met, and the continuous adjustment of the illumination of the exposure system is quickly realized. In addition, optical indexes such as telecentricity, pupil polar balance and pupil uniformity of the exposure system are not affected, and good optical performance is ensured.
It is to be noted that the foregoing is only illustrative of the preferred embodiments of the present invention and the technical principles employed. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described herein, and that various obvious changes, rearrangements and substitutions will now be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. Therefore, although the present invention has been described in greater detail by the above embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and may include other equivalent embodiments without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is determined by the scope of the appended claims.
Claims (15)
1. An energy conditioning device, comprising: the device comprises a light homogenizing unit, a light intensity adjusting unit, a light intensity measuring unit and a control unit, wherein the light intensity adjusting unit and the light intensity measuring unit are respectively connected with the control unit;
the dodging unit comprises an incident end, an emergent end and a side wall, wherein the incident end and the emergent end are arranged oppositely, and the side wall is connected with the incident end and the emergent end; at least part of the side wall of the dodging unit is coated by the light intensity adjusting unit;
the dodging unit is used for refracting the light beam entering from the incident end to the dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit at the side wall coated by the light intensity adjusting unit, and totally reflecting the light beam entering from the incident end to the exit end at the side wall not coated by the light intensity adjusting unit;
the light intensity measuring unit is used for measuring the actual light intensity of the emergent end of the light uniformizing unit and feeding back the actual light intensity to the control unit;
the control unit is used for adjusting the light intensity adjusting unit and/or the dodging unit so as to adjust the contact area of the dodging unit and a dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit, so that the actual light intensity is equal to the required light intensity;
wherein the refractive index of the dimming medium is greater than that of air.
2. The energy conditioner of claim 1, wherein the refractive index of the dimming medium is greater than the refractive index of the dodging unit.
3. The energy conditioner of claim 1, wherein the light unifying unit comprises a light unifying rod.
4. The energy conditioner of claim 3, wherein said integrator rod comprises a quartz rod.
5. The energy conditioner of claim 1, wherein said light intensity adjusting unit comprises at least one light intensity adjusting subunit;
the light intensity adjusting subunit comprises a liquid level detection container, a liquid level compensation container and the dimming medium, wherein the liquid level detection container and the liquid level compensation container are arranged in a communicated manner, and the dimming medium is arranged in the liquid level detection container and the liquid level compensation container;
the light uniformizing unit is fixedly inserted into the liquid level detection container of the at least one light intensity adjusting subunit;
the control unit is used for adjusting the contact area between the light uniformizing unit and the dimming medium.
6. The energy conditioning device of claim 5, wherein the light homogenizing unit is vertically disposed;
the control unit is used for adjusting the pressure of gas above the dimming medium in the liquid level compensation container so as to adjust the liquid level position of the dimming medium in the liquid level detection container.
7. The energy conditioning device of claim 6, wherein the height of the light homogenizing unit in the vertical direction is greater than or equal to the sum of the heights of the liquid level detection containers in the light intensity adjusting subunits in the vertical direction.
8. The energy conditioning device according to claim 5, wherein the refractive index of the dimming medium in each of the light intensity adjusting subunits is different from each other.
9. The energy conditioner of claim 5, wherein said light intensity conditioning subunit further comprises a sealing layer;
the dimming medium in the level detection container is sealed by the sealing layer.
10. The energy conditioner according to claim 1, wherein said light intensity measuring unit comprises an energy detector and said control unit comprises a computer.
11. An energy conditioning method, performed using the energy conditioning device of any one of claims 1-10, the energy conditioning method comprising:
the light intensity measuring unit measures the actual light intensity of the emergent end of the dodging unit and feeds the actual light intensity back to the control unit;
the control unit adjusts the light intensity adjusting unit and/or the dodging unit according to the difference between the actual light intensity and the required light intensity so as to adjust the contact area between the dodging unit and a dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit, so that the actual light intensity is equal to the required light intensity.
12. The energy conditioning method of claim 11, wherein the light intensity conditioning unit comprises at least one light intensity conditioning subunit;
the control unit adjusts the light intensity adjusting unit and/or the dodging unit according to the difference between the actual light intensity and the required light intensity so as to adjust the contact area between the dodging unit and a dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit, and the actual light intensity is equal to the required light intensity, and the control unit comprises:
the control unit firstly adjusts the first light intensity adjusting subunit and then adjusts the second light intensity adjusting subunit according to the difference between the actual light intensity and the required light intensity so as to adjust the contact area between the light homogenizing unit and the dimming medium in the light intensity adjusting unit and enable the actual light intensity to be equal to the required light intensity;
wherein the refractive index of the dimming medium in the first light intensity adjusting subunit is larger than the refractive index of the dimming medium in the second light intensity adjusting subunit.
13. A lighting system comprising the energy conditioner of any one of claims 1-10.
14. The illumination system of claim 13, further comprising a mercury lamp, a coupling lens group, a relay lens group, and a mask plate;
light emitted by the mercury lamp sequentially passes through the coupling lens group, the energy adjusting device and the relay lens group to form a uniform illumination view field on the mask plate.
15. A lithography machine comprising an illumination system according to claim 13 or 14.
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| RU2355004C1 (en) * | 2007-10-12 | 2009-05-10 | Корпорация "Самсунг Электроникс Ко., Лтд" | Radiation intensity regulator |
| CN101561636A (en) * | 2009-05-19 | 2009-10-21 | 上海微电子装备有限公司 | Device and method for controlling photoetching exposure dose |
| CN102063021A (en) * | 2010-12-01 | 2011-05-18 | 中国科学院光电技术研究所 | Attenuation device capable of adjusting light beam energy |
| CN107966882A (en) * | 2017-08-10 | 2018-04-27 | 上海微电子装备（集团）股份有限公司 | Exposure sources and exposure method |
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| RU2355004C1 (en) * | 2007-10-12 | 2009-05-10 | Корпорация "Самсунг Электроникс Ко., Лтд" | Radiation intensity regulator |
| CN101561636A (en) * | 2009-05-19 | 2009-10-21 | 上海微电子装备有限公司 | Device and method for controlling photoetching exposure dose |
| CN102063021A (en) * | 2010-12-01 | 2011-05-18 | 中国科学院光电技术研究所 | Attenuation device capable of adjusting light beam energy |
| CN107966882A (en) * | 2017-08-10 | 2018-04-27 | 上海微电子装备（集团）股份有限公司 | Exposure sources and exposure method |
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