JP2003100597A - Substrate developing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a substrate developing device capable of improving the activity ratio of the device at relatively low costs by determining the propriety/ impropriety of a pattern dimension based on reflected light. SOLUTION: An optical head 13 and a data processing part 41 built in a substrate developing device measure a pattern dimension based on reflected light in order to determine the propriety/impropriety of the pattern dimension. When it is determined that the pattern dimension is improper, a display device 37 issues warning so that it is possible to determine whether or not the development processing has been properly carried out without moving the substrate to a measuring device in order to measure the pattern dimension, and that it is possible to reduce costs by not using any SEM. Therefore, it is possible to improve the activity ratio of the device, and to obtain the device at relatively low costs.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a substrate developing apparatus for developing a photosensitive film deposited on a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate for liquid crystal display (hereinafter simply referred to as substrate).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, patterning of a coating film on a substrate by photolithography is performed by coating a coating solution by a coating device, baking after coating by a heat treatment device, exposure by an exposure device, baking after exposure by a heat treatment device, and by a substrate developing device. It is performed by sequentially performing development and baking after development by a heat treatment device. After that, in order to judge whether the pattern dimension is formed with a desired accuracy, the CD
(Critical Dimension) is confirmed.

SEM for a CD is generally used for checking the CD.
(Scanning electron microscope) is used, the pattern dimension is measured, and if it does not satisfy the desired accuracy,
After the film is peeled off, an operation called "rework" is performed in which the above-mentioned processing is performed again. Note that generally, rework is performed after adjusting a recipe or the like so that pattern accuracy is improved.

[0004]

However, the conventional example having such a structure has the following problems. That is, the conventional device is a CD for confirming the CD.
-SEM is used, and the substrate after baking after development is moved to CD-SEM for measurement. Therefore, there is no choice but to stop the substrate developing device until the measurement result is obtained, and there is a problem that the operating time is reduced. After confirmation is performed using the pilot board for accuracy measurement, the product board may be subjected to development processing, but even in that case, the dimensions do not satisfy the desired accuracy. It is necessary to rework the pilot substrate until the desired accuracy is obtained.

In order to solve such a problem, the CD-
Proposals have also been made to incorporate an SEM into a substrate developing apparatus. However, because of the operating principle of the SEM, it is necessary to depressurize the chamber in order to obtain a stable electron beam.
There is a problem that the measurement takes a long time. Therefore, the same problem as described above still occurs.

Further, since the CD-SEM is very expensive, there is a problem that the cost of the apparatus increases if it is integrally attached to the substrate developing apparatus.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is possible to improve the operation rate of the apparatus by judging the suitability of the pattern size based on the reflected light, and relatively. It is an object of the present invention to provide a substrate developing device that can be realized at low cost.

[0008]

The present invention has the following constitution in order to achieve such an object. That is, according to the first aspect of the invention, in a substrate developing apparatus that performs a phenomenon treatment on a substrate, the pattern dimension of the developed film is measured based on the reflected light, and the measurement for determining the suitability of the pattern dimension is performed. Means and an alarm means for issuing an alarm when the measuring means determines that the pattern size is not suitable.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the substrate developing apparatus according to the first aspect, the measuring means includes a multi-wavelength light source that irradiates the substrate with light, and a spectroscopic device that disperses the reflected light from the substrate. And an image processing means for processing the output from the spectroscope to obtain the pattern size of the developed film and to judge the suitability of the pattern size.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the substrate developing apparatus according to the second aspect, the image processing means determines the suitability of the pattern size based on the measured spectral reflection spectrum. Is.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the substrate developing apparatus according to the second aspect, the image processing means determines the suitability of the pattern size based on the measured reflected light intensity of the specific wavelength. It is what

[0012]

The operation of the invention described in claim 1 is as follows. That is, the measuring means built in the substrate developing device measures the pattern dimension based on the reflected light and determines the suitability thereof. If the pattern size is not suitable, the alarm means gives an alarm, so that it is possible to judge whether the developing process is properly performed without moving the substrate to a separate measuring device for pattern size measurement. Moreover, the cost can be suppressed because the SEM is not used. Therefore, the operating rate of the device can be improved, and the device can be realized at a relatively low cost.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the light from the multi-wavelength light source of the measuring means is reflected by the surface of the substrate on which the coating film is coated, and the light is dispersed by the spectroscope. The dispersed light is processed by the image processing means.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the image processing means determines the suitability of the pattern size based on the fact that the measured spectral reflection spectrum differs for each pattern size.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the image processing means determines the suitability of the pattern size based on the fact that the measured reflected light intensity differs for each pattern size.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an essential part of an embodiment of the present invention.

The spin chuck 1 adsorbs and holds the substrate W in a horizontal posture. This spin chuck 1 has an electric motor 3
Is connected to the rotating shaft of the electric motor 3 and is rotated about the vertical axis when the electric motor 3 is driven.

A developing nozzle 5 and a rinse nozzle 7 are arranged at a standby position on the side of the substrate W. These nozzles 5 and 7 are moved along the surface of the substrate W in the direction indicated by the chain double-dashed line in the figure by a moving mechanism (not shown). Although not shown, each lower surface is provided with a slit-shaped opening having a long side in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction. The developing nozzle 5 is connected to a developer supply source via an electromagnetic opening / closing valve 9, and the rinse nozzle 7 is connected to a rinse liquid supply source via an electromagnetic opening / closing valve 11.

The above-mentioned developing nozzle 5 and rinsing nozzle 7
In the vicinity of the movement direction of the substrate W, it is possible to move to a "standby position" that is separated laterally of the substrate W and a "measurement position" that is above the periphery of the substrate W, and it is possible to freely move within a certain range near the measurement position. The optical head 13 configured as above is provided. The optical head 13, which will be described in detail later, measures the reflected light on the surface of the substrate W.

The above-mentioned electric motor 3 and developing nozzle 5
, Rinse nozzle 7, solenoid valve 9, solenoid valve 1
1 and the optical head 13 are controlled by the controller 15.

The optical head 13 and the controller 15 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. Note that FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing those details.

A light source section 17 is provided below the optical head 13 above the substrate W. The light laterally emitted from the light source unit 17 is reflected downward by the beam splitter 19, passes through the objective lens 21, and is irradiated onto the substrate W.

The light source unit 17 includes a halogen lamp or a lamp 17a including a halogen lamp and a deuterium lamp,
It has a plurality of lenses 17b and emits visible light including visible light or ultraviolet light.

The reflected light from the substrate W is returned to the objective lens 2 again.
1 through the beam splitter 19 disposed on the optical axis above the beam splitter 1, and is condensed by the tube lens 23 disposed above the beam splitter 19 to be dispersed into the spectroscopic unit 25.
Is incident on.

A prism 27 is arranged between the spectroscopic unit 25 and the tube lens 23, and the substrate W
A part of the reflected light from is taken out. Part of the extracted reflected light is guided to the imaging unit 29,
It is condensed at a predetermined position via the lens 29a. The image pickup device 29b is arranged at the light collecting position, and the image signal of the measurement region is output to the image processing unit 31.

The image processing unit 31 performs a predetermined process on the input image signal and outputs it to the I / O 33. The output image signal is output to the display device 37 under the control of the control unit 35 including a CPU and a memory. The operator operates the operation unit 39 to move the optical head 13 while observing the image displayed in this manner, and moves the measurement region to a position where the measurement pattern on the surface of the substrate W is present to perform measurement.

The spectroscopic unit 25 includes a plate 25a having a pinhole formed at the incident position of the reflected light, a concave diffraction grating 25b arranged above the plate 25a to disperse the reflected light, and the concave diffraction grating 25b. And a photodetector 25c that detects the spectral intensity of the diffracted light that has been spectrally dispersed. The photodetector 25c is composed of, for example, a photodiode array, a CCD, etc.
It is arranged in a conjugate relationship with the pinhole formed in 5a. Therefore, the reflected light that has entered the spectroscopic unit 25 is split by the concave diffraction grating 25b, and a signal corresponding to the spectral intensity of this light is output from the photodetector 25c to the data processing unit 41 as a spectral reflection spectrum.

The data processing section 41 performs processing in response to a control signal from the control section 35 based on an operator's instruction via the operation section 39. In brief, first, a product pattern including the same measurement pattern for pattern dimension measurement is formed in advance on a plurality of substrates W. At this time, the coating conditions and the developing conditions are changed so that the pattern size varies to some extent, and then the processes up to the developing / rinsing are performed. Then, the spectral reflection spectra of all the substrates W are measured, and the pattern dimension of each substrate W is measured using a CD-SEM or the like. Next, calibration curve data in which the pattern dimension and the spectral reflection spectrum are associated with each other is created in advance and stored in the data processing unit 41.

It should be noted that the calibration curve data is preferably created every time the relationship between the spectral reflection spectrum and the pattern dimension changes due to the photolithography process, the type of the substrate W, the type of coating film, and the like.

When the substrate W, which is an actual product, is processed, the spectral reflection spectrum is measured on the substrate W after development and rinsing, and the data processing unit 41 responds from the spectral reflection spectrum and the calibration curve data. Find the pattern size to be used.
As a result, when the desired accuracy is not satisfied, a predetermined display is displayed on the display device 37 as an alarm.

The optical head 13 described above corresponds to the measuring means in the present invention, and the display device 37 corresponds to the alarm means. The light source unit 17 corresponds to a multi-wavelength light source, the concave diffraction grating 25b corresponds to a spectroscope, and the data processing unit 41 corresponds to a measuring unit and an image processing unit.

Next, referring to the flowchart of FIG.
The details of the processing by the above-mentioned device will be described. The flowchart of FIG. 3 shows only the processing after the development / rinse.

First, it is assumed that the following processing has already been performed. While the developing nozzle 5, the rinse nozzle 7, and the optical head 13 are moved to the standby position, the substrate W on which the product pattern including the measurement pattern is exposed is sucked and held by the spin chuck 1. Then, while the substrate W is stationary, the electromagnetic opening / closing valve 9 is opened to discharge the developing solution from the developing nozzle 5 at a constant flow rate, and the developing nozzle 5 is moved along the surface of the substrate W at a constant speed. . As a result, a certain amount of developing solution is deposited on the surface of the substrate W (referred to as paddle development). After maintaining this state for a certain period of time, the electric motor 3 is rotated for a few seconds to shake off the developer, and when the rotation is stopped, the electromagnetic opening / closing valve 11 is opened to rinse the rinse liquid (pure water) at a constant flow rate. While discharging from 7, the rinse nozzle 7 is moved along the surface of the substrate W. As a result, the developing action of the substrate W is stopped. After that, rotate the electric motor 3 for a predetermined time,
The substrate W is shaken off and dried.

Step S1 At the time when the developing / rinsing process is completed, the control unit 35
Under the control of 1., the optical head 13 automatically moves from the standby position to the position shown by the solid line in FIG. Then, the operator confirms the surface of the substrate W displayed on the display device 37 and, through the operation unit 39, the optical head 13
The measurement area is moved to a position where the measurement pattern is on the substrate W.

Step S2 When the measurement area of the optical head 13 is located on the measurement pattern, the operator gives an instruction to start the measurement through the operation unit 39. Then, the data processing unit 41 processes the output from the spectroscopic unit 25 and measures the spectral reflection spectrum.

While the data processing section 41 performs pattern matching, the moving means of the electric motor 3 and the optical head 3 (not shown) are controlled to search the measurement pattern on the substrate W so that the optical head 13 can measure the measurement pattern. The spectral reflection spectrum may be automatically measured when it is positioned above.

Step S3: The data processing section 41 calculates the measured spectral reflection spectrum,
The pattern dimension in the measurement pattern is obtained based on the calibration curve data stored in advance.

Step S4 The data processing unit 41 compares the obtained pattern size with the originally required size to judge whether or not the desired accuracy is satisfied. Note that the originally required dimensions and desired accuracy (for example, ±
The accuracy of 5%) is set in advance via the operation unit 39. If the accuracy is satisfied, the process proceeds to step S5 to process the next substrate W. On the other hand, if the accuracy is not satisfied, the process moves to step S6 to display a display corresponding to an alarm on the display device 37, and the process is stopped to let the operator decide.

That is, since the operator has a problem with the accuracy of the pattern dimension, the operator either performs the same processing on all the remaining substrates of the same lot or cancels the processing on the remaining substrates of the same lot at this point. Is selected, and an operation corresponding to that is selected, and then rework is performed to remove the coating film.

As described above, the optical head 13 and the data processing unit 41 built in the substrate developing apparatus measure the pattern size based on the spectral reflection spectrum to judge the suitability.
Then, when the pattern dimension is not suitable, an alarm is issued, so that it is possible to judge whether the developing process is properly performed without moving the substrate to the measuring device for measuring the pattern dimension, and the SEM is used. Since it does not exist, the cost can be suppressed. Therefore, it is possible to improve the operating rate of the substrate developing device and to realize it at a relatively low cost.

The present invention can be variously modified as follows.

(1) In the above description, the data processing section 41 corresponding to the image processing means determines the suitability of the pattern size based on the spectral reflection spectrum, but instead, the reflected light intensity of a specific wavelength is used. May be. This utilizes the characteristic that the reflected light intensity of a specific wavelength differs depending on the pattern size. Of course, it is necessary to measure the reflected light intensity of a specific wavelength for each pattern dimension prior to processing and store it as calibration curve data.

In this case, it can be realized by a relatively simple process,
The load on the data processing unit 41 can be reduced. On the other hand, when the determination is made based on the spectral reflection spectrum described above, highly accurate determination is possible. Therefore, it is preferable to properly use the spectrum and the reflected light intensity described above according to the required accuracy.

(2) In the case of a substrate processing apparatus having a plurality of types of processing apparatuses such as a coating apparatus, a heating / cooling apparatus, and a transfer apparatus in addition to the above-described substrate developing apparatus, the above-mentioned apparatus is provided at a position adjacent to the substrate developing apparatus. It may be configured to include a measuring device including the optical head 13 described above. In this case, the substrate developing device and the measuring device correspond to the substrate developing device in the present invention. With such a configuration, the above-described processing may be performed after the substrate, which has been developed by the substrate developing device, is transported to the measuring device by the transport device.

(3) The device for paddle development with the developing nozzle 5 and the rinse nozzle 7 having slit-shaped openings is taken as an example, but instead of this, a developing nozzle and a rinse nozzle having circular openings. The present invention is also applicable to a substrate developing apparatus of a developing system which is provided with the above and supplies a developing solution or the like while rotating the substrate W.

(4) Of the surface of the substrate W, the optical unit 1
A CCD camera having a field of view in which 3 can be moved is provided, and a captured image of the surface of the substrate W is displayed on the data processing unit 41.
Alternatively, the electric motor 3 and the optical head 13 may be moved to the position where the measurement pattern on the substrate W is located by performing the process described in 1. As a result, it becomes possible to automatically and quickly perform pattern measurement after development.

(5) As the alarm means, instead of the display device 37, a light emitting means such as a lamp or a sound generating means may be adopted, and a plurality of means may be combined.

[0048]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the measuring means built in the substrate developing device measures the pattern size based on the reflected light to judge its suitability. . When the pattern size is not suitable, the alarm means gives an alarm, so that it is possible to judge whether the developing process is appropriately performed without moving the substrate to the measuring device for pattern size measurement. SEM
Since it does not use, the cost can be suppressed. Therefore, the operating rate of the device can be improved, and the device can be realized at a relatively low cost.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the light from the multi-wavelength light source of the measuring means is reflected by the surface of the substrate on which the coating film is coated, and after being reflected by the spectroscope, it is processed by the image processing means. It Therefore, the suitability of the pattern size can be determined based on the light intensity without using the SEM.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the suitability of the pattern dimension is determined by utilizing the characteristic that the measured spectral reflection spectrum is different for each pattern dimension, so that the determination can be performed with high accuracy.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the propriety of the pattern size is judged by utilizing the characteristic that the measured reflected light intensity differs for each pattern size. The load on the means can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of a substrate developing device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing detailed configurations of a controller and an optical head.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

W ... Substrate 1… Spin chuck 3 ... Electric motor 5 ... Development nozzle 7 ... Rinse nozzle 13 ... Optical head (measuring means) 15… Controller 17 ... Light source unit (multi-wavelength light source) 25 ... Spectroscopic unit 25b ... Concave diffraction grating (spectrometer) 37 ... Display device (alarm means) 41 ... Data processing unit (measurement means, image processing means)

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Masakazu Sanada             4-chome Tenjin, which runs up to Teranouchi, Horikawa-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto             1 Kitamachi No. 1 Dai Nippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd.             Inside the company (72) Inventor Mitsunobu Matsunaga             4-chome Tenjin, which runs up to Teranouchi, Horikawa-dori, Kamigyo-ku, Kyoto             1 Kitamachi No. 1 Dai Nippon Screen Manufacturing Co., Ltd.             Inside the company F term (reference) 2F065 AA54 AA61 BB17 CC17 DD06                       FF48 GG02 HH03 HH13 JJ03                       JJ18 JJ26 LL42 MM24 QQ24                       QQ25 RR08 SS09                 2H096 AA25 AA27 GA21 GA29 LA16                 5F046 LA08 LA18

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A substrate developing apparatus for performing a phenomenon treatment on a substrate, which measures a pattern size of a developed film based on reflected light and determines whether the pattern size is appropriate, and the measuring unit. And a warning means for issuing a warning when the pattern size is determined to be unsuitable, and the substrate developing apparatus. 2. The substrate developing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the measuring unit includes a multi-wavelength light source that irradiates the substrate with light, a spectroscope that disperses reflected light from the substrate, and the spectroscope. And an image processing unit for determining the pattern size of the developed film and determining the suitability of the pattern size, the substrate developing apparatus. 3. The substrate developing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image processing unit determines suitability of the pattern size based on the measured spectral reflection spectrum. 4. The substrate developing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image processing unit determines suitability of a pattern size based on the measured reflected light intensity of a specific wavelength.