JP2001201843A - Pattern layout method, and computer-readable recording medium having pattern layout program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a pattern layout method capable of precisely disposing marks. SOLUTION: A mark is disposed on an electrode substrate pattern from read mark data after reading the mark data from a storage device. The arrangement of the mark disposed to the electrode substrate pattern is corrected on the electrode substrate pattern. The mark disposed to the electrode substrate pattern is disposed to an exposure shot pattern. By disposing the mark to the exposure shot pattern, the mark can be disposed exactly together with the exposure shot pattern.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a pattern layout method for arranging marks on an exposure shot pattern and a computer readable recording medium storing a pattern layout program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, flat display devices (hereinafter, referred to as display devices) represented by liquid crystal display devices have been used in various fields by utilizing the features of light weight, thinness, and low power consumption.
Recently, due to the demand for large-sized display devices, display devices exceeding 10 inches have become mainstream.

[0003] In addition to display devices having electrical functions such as display areas and connection pads, display devices include an assembly mark and a PEP.
A large electrode substrate on which a plurality of chips having marks such as alignment marks are formed is cut and used for each chip. The pattern formed on the photomask is transferred to a resist applied to a glass substrate or the like by an exposure machine on the electrode substrate, and a pattern is formed based on the pattern.

With the recent increase in size of display devices, it has become necessary to divide exposure for pattern formation into a plurality of shot areas. This is because it is difficult to expose a high-precision pattern over a large area due to the performance of an exposure machine. Such a division exposure technique is called a stepper method. In this stepper method, a pattern such as an electrode substrate or a chip is divided into a plurality of shot areas and exposed, so that an exposed shot pattern is exposed to an exposure mask (hereinafter, referred to as an exposure mask).
Reticle). The exposure shot pattern has a plurality of hierarchies in order to reduce the amount of data and to increase the display speed in CAD used for pattern design.

[0005] In the step of forming an exposure pattern on a reticle, there is a step of forming marks on the reticle. Regarding the placement of marks, a new placement is performed even though the products are placed with substantially the same specifications (the same mark cell and the same coordinates) at each manufacturing site where a product is manufactured. that time,
To prevent misplacement of the mark, the designer forms an image pattern of the electrode substrate or chip, corrects the arrangement of the mark on the image pattern, and reticles the correction of the arrangement of the mark on the image pattern. We're giving feedback on correcting the mark placement above.

[0006]

However, the correction of the arrangement of the marks on the electrode substrate or chip image pattern does not directly lead to the correction of the arrangement of the marks on the reticle. After many runs,
The arrangement of the mark on the reticle can be corrected, and there is a problem that a complicated calculation is required. Also, at this time, the coordinates may be incorrectly calculated and may not be noticed.If the exposure data is created with the incorrectly calculated coordinates,
There is a problem that the reticle is not re-exposed at the place where it should be originally exposed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has as its object to provide a pattern layout method and a computer-readable recording medium storing a pattern layout program, which can accurately arrange marks.

[0008]

According to the present invention, mark data is read from a storage device, a mark is arranged on an electrode substrate pattern from the read mark data, and the arrangement of the mark arranged on the electrode substrate pattern is determined on the electrode substrate pattern. And the marks arranged on the electrode substrate pattern are arranged on the exposure shot pattern.

[0009] Then, the mark is arranged on the electrode substrate pattern, the mark arrangement is corrected on the electrode substrate pattern, and the mark arranged on the electrode substrate pattern is arranged on the exposure shot pattern. It becomes possible to place it accurately.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

For example, in order to arrange a mark on an electrode substrate used for a liquid crystal display substrate, as shown in FIG.
The first to fourth steps are sequentially executed by a computer according to a pattern layout program (mark layout program). The pattern layout program can be stored in a recording medium such as a hard disk, a memory, a floppy disk, and an optical disk, and can be read out from the recording medium and executed on a computer.

First, in a first step, a mark data file of a specific description format is read from a storage device such as a hard disk or a memory of a computer, and a mark is arranged on an electrode substrate pattern. Here, a mark data file is needed before starting the first step,
This will be described as if it already existed. If there is no mark data file, a mark data file can be obtained by first performing the third step on the electrode substrate pattern serving as a motif.

In the first step, as shown in FIG.
An electrode substrate pattern 11 on which no marks are arranged is prepared.
This electrode substrate pattern 11 includes a chip pattern 12. Then, as shown in FIG. 4, a plurality of marks 14 are arranged on the electrode substrate pattern 11 based on the data of the mark data file 13. Mark data file 13 contains
As shown in FIG. 2, at least the mark library name,
Electrode substrate cell name, mark cell name, number of mark cells,
Since the coordinates of the mark cell in the electrode substrate coordinate system and the like are included, the same mark 14 as the electrode substrate pattern 11 serving as a motif is arranged at the same location and on the electrode substrate pattern 11 to be created.

Next, in the second step, as shown in FIG. 5, the arrangement of the marks 14 arranged on the electrode substrate pattern 11 in the first step is corrected on the electrode substrate pattern 11.
This is the mark 14 on the electrode substrate pattern 11
Is not always the same,
This second step is required. The final day of the design is to create an exposure shot pattern divided for each shot on an exposure photomask (hereinafter referred to as a reticle), but the arrangement of the marks 14 is based on the coordinates in the reticle coordinate system. There is no meaning in the coordinates in the electrode substrate coordinate system. Therefore, in this second step, the electrode substrate pattern 11
Correcting the arrangement of the marks 14 above can prevent misplacement of the marks 14.

Next, in a third step, a mark data file 13 is created. In the second step, the coordinates and the like of the mark 14 correctly arranged are extracted, output according to the description format of the mark data file 13, and stored in a storage device of the computer. As a result, the exposure data used for exposure by the exposure device can be created for the mark 14, which is very efficient. In addition, the design rule check can be performed efficiently because the coordinates of the mark 14 are output to the mark data file 13. Furthermore, when the electrode substrate pattern 11 created this time is used as the next motif, the mark data
13 can be used.

Next, in a fourth step, the marks 14 arranged on the electrode substrate pattern 11 are arranged on the exposure shot pattern. Since the final day of the design is to create an exposure shot pattern divided for each shot on the reticle, it is necessary to finally arrange the mark 14 on the exposure shot pattern. If the mark 14 is arranged on the exposure shot pattern, the mark 14 can be arranged on the reticle by creating an exposure shot pattern on which the mark 14 is arranged on the reticle.

First, as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that there is an exposure shot pattern 15 in which the mark 14 is not arranged before entering the step. As shown in FIG. 7, a rectangle having the same size as the outer shape of the exposure shot pattern 15 (hereinafter, referred to as an outer shape of the exposure shot) is drawn at a position corresponding to each of the electrode substrate pattern 11 and the exposure shot pattern 15. Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the positional relationship between the outline of the exposure shot and the mark 14 is extracted on the electrode substrate pattern 11, and the mark 14 is arranged on the exposure shot pattern 15 based on the extracted relationship. As a result, the mark from the electrode substrate pattern 11 to the exposure shot pattern 15
14 arrangements can be arranged in a short time without errors.

As described above, the steps from the first step to the fourth step are performed with respect to the production of the reticle for the electrode substrate pattern 11 including the chip pattern 12 which is sufficiently larger than the reticle outer shape. The mark 14 can be arranged on the exposure shot pattern 15 without error, and the exposure shot pattern 15 on which the mark 14 is arranged is formed on a reticle, so that the mark 14 can be accurately arranged together with the exposure shot pattern 15 on the reticle. Thereby, productivity can be improved.

[0019]

According to the present invention, by arranging marks on the electrode substrate pattern, correcting the arrangement of the marks on the electrode substrate pattern, and arranging the marks arranged on the electrode substrate pattern on the exposure shot pattern, Marks can be accurately arranged together with the exposure shot pattern.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a description format of a mark data file according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an electrode substrate pattern on which no marks are arranged.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for arranging marks on an electrode substrate pattern based on the same mark data file.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for correcting the arrangement of marks on the electrode substrate pattern.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of an exposure shot pattern in which no marks are arranged.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for drawing an exposure shot outline on the electrode substrate pattern and the exposure shot pattern.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram for arranging marks on the exposure shot pattern.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 Electrode substrate pattern 14 Mark 15 Exposure shot pattern

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method of reading mark data from a storage device, arranging a mark on an electrode substrate pattern from the read mark data, correcting an arrangement of the mark arranged on the electrode substrate pattern on the electrode substrate pattern, A pattern layout method comprising arranging arranged marks on an exposure shot pattern. 2. A step of reading mark data from a storage device, a step of arranging a mark on an electrode substrate pattern from the read mark data, and a step of correcting an arrangement of a mark arranged on the electrode substrate pattern on the electrode substrate pattern. And arranging marks arranged on the electrode substrate pattern on the exposure shot pattern. A computer-readable recording medium storing a pattern layout program.