JP2012238672A - Imprint apparatus, imprint method, and manufacturing method of goods - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology which is advantageous for imprinting to a cracked region on a substrate.SOLUTION: An imprint apparatus molds an imprint material on a substrate with a mold and cures the imprint material to form a pattern on the substrate. The imprint apparatus has a supply part supplying imprint materials on the substrate; and a control part controlling the supply operation conducted by the supply part. The supply part supplies a first imprint material and a second imprint material on the substrate, the second imprint material having a stationary contact angle larger than a stationary contact angle of the first imprint material relative to the mold, and the control part controls the supply operation conducted by the supply part so that the first imprint material is supplied to a third region, which is not located adjacent to a second region in a first region, and the second imprint material is supplied to a fourth region, which is located adjacent to the second region in the first region, when the imprint material is molded in the first region of the mold and the imprint material is not molded in the second region of the mold.

Description

  The present invention relates to an imprint apparatus, an imprint method, and an article manufacturing method.

  The imprint technique is a technique that enables transfer of a nanoscale fine pattern, and has been proposed as one of nanolithography techniques for mass production of semiconductor devices and magnetic storage media (see Patent Documents 1 and 2). In an imprint apparatus using an imprint technique, a resin having a fine pattern is pressed against a resin on a substrate such as a silicon wafer or a glass plate, the resin is cured, and the mold is peeled off from the cured resin. Thus, a fine pattern is formed.

  In an imprint apparatus, an area near the edge of the substrate may be transferred to a chipped area where the area on the substrate and the entire surface of the mold (pattern surface) do not completely face (that is, the entire pattern to be transferred can be transferred. Area that cannot be). When the mold is pressed against the resin on such a chipped region, the resin spreads along the mold (pattern surface), and the resin remains on a portion of the mold not facing the substrate. The resin remaining on the mold causes a defect in a region on the substrate where the pattern of the mold is transferred next.

  Therefore, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique in which a resin is not supplied to a chipped region among regions on a substrate to which a mold pattern is to be transferred, and a mold pattern is not transferred. Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for adjusting the amount of resin supplied to a region near the edge of a substrate.

US Patent Application Publication No. 2007/228609 JP 2005-286062 A

  However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, since the resin is not supplied to the chipped area near the edge of the substrate, the chipped area is exposed. Therefore, it becomes difficult to perform uniform processing on the substrate in a process after pattern transfer (for example, etching), which causes a decrease in yield of the entire substrate.

  In the technique of Patent Document 2, since the resin is also supplied to the chipped area near the edge of the substrate, the chipped area is not exposed. However, it is very difficult to adjust the supply amount of the resin so that the resin does not spread on the part of the mold that does not face the substrate when the mold is pressed (that is, the resin does not remain on the mold) Not realistic.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a technique advantageous for imprinting a chipped region on a substrate.

  In order to achieve the above object, an imprint apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention is an imprint apparatus that forms an imprint material on a substrate with a mold and cures it to form a pattern on the substrate, A supply unit that supplies an imprint material onto the substrate; and a control unit that controls an operation of the supply by the supply unit, wherein the supply unit includes a first imprint material and the first for the mold. A second imprint material having a static contact angle larger than the static contact angle of the one imprint material is supplied onto the substrate, and the controller forms the imprint material in the first region of the mold, and When the imprint material is not molded in the second region of the mold, the first imprint material is supplied in a third region not adjacent to the second region in the first region, and the first region in the first region The second adjacent to the second region As the inside region second imprint material is supplied, it controls the operation of the supply by the supply unit, characterized in that.

  Further objects and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the preferred embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  According to the present invention, for example, it is possible to provide a technique advantageous for imprinting a chipped region on a substrate.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an imprint apparatus as one aspect of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the position of the pattern surface of a mold at the time of imprinting a mold with respect to the shot area | region on a board | substrate. In a prior art, it is a figure which shows the state of the resin in the vicinity of a chip | tip area | region at the time of stamping a mold. It is a figure for demonstrating supply of the resin to the board | substrate (chip area | region) in this embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating supply of the resin to the board | substrate (chip area | region) in this embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the resin supply part of the imprint apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the resin supply part of the imprint apparatus shown in FIG.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, in each figure, the same reference number is attached | subjected about the same member and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of an imprint apparatus 1 as one aspect of the present invention. The imprint apparatus 1 is a processing apparatus that forms an imprint material (for example, resin) on a substrate with a mold (mold) and cures to form a pattern (uneven pattern) on the substrate. Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the Z axis is defined in the direction parallel to the irradiation axis of the ultraviolet rays on the mold, the X axis is defined in the direction in which the substrate moves in a plane perpendicular to the Z axis, and the X axis is The Y axis is defined in the orthogonal direction.

  The imprint apparatus 1 includes an illumination system 101, a mold 102, a mold head 103, a mark observation system 104, a prism 105, a substrate stage 107 that holds a substrate 106, a positioning system 108, a resin supply unit 109, And a control unit 110.

  The illumination system 101 irradiates the resin on the substrate 106 with ultraviolet light UL through the mold 102 in a state where the resin on the substrate 106 and the mold 102 are in contact with each other. The illumination system 101 includes a plurality of optical elements for adjusting light emitted from the light source (ultraviolet light UL) to light suitable for imprint processing.

  The mold 102 has a rectangular shape, and has a pattern surface 102a for transferring a pattern (for example, a concavo-convex pattern such as a circuit pattern) to the substrate 106 at the center of the substrate-side surface (surface facing the substrate 106). . The pattern surface 102a is processed with high flatness in order to improve adhesion with the resin on the substrate 106. The mold 102 is made of a material (for example, quartz) that transmits the ultraviolet light UL from the illumination system 101.

  The mold head 103 is a holding device that holds and fixes the mold 102 by vacuum suction or electrostatic force. The mold head 103 includes a mechanism for driving the mold 102 in the Z-axis direction. The mold 102 is impressed (pressed) on the resin (uncured resin) on the substrate 106 with an appropriate force. The mold 102 is peeled (released) from the cured resin.

  The mark observation system 104 observes the alignment mark on the substrate 106 through the mold 102. In this embodiment, the mark observation system 104 detects an irradiation system for irradiating the alignment mark on the substrate 106 with the visible light VL from the light source, and the visible light VL reflected by the alignment mark on the substrate 106. And a detection system for.

  In the present embodiment, the prism 105 is disposed inside the mold head 103 and has a characteristic of reflecting ultraviolet light and transmitting visible light. The prism 105 reflects the ultraviolet light UL from the illumination system 101 and guides it to the resin on the substrate 106. The prism 105 transmits the visible light VL from the mark observation system 104 (irradiation system) and guides it to the alignment mark on the substrate 106, and transmits the visible light VL reflected by the alignment mark to transmit the mark. The light is guided to the observation system 104 (detection system). The prism 105 enables the illumination system 101 and the mark observation system 104 to coexist. Further, the positional relationship among the illumination system 101, the mark observation system 104, and the prism 105 is not limited to the positional relationship shown in FIG. For example, when the prism 105 has the characteristics of reflecting visible light and transmitting ultraviolet light, the arrangement of the illumination system 101 and the mark observation system 104 is reversed.

  The substrate stage 107 includes a fine movement stage and a coarse movement stage, and holds a substrate 106 such as a wafer. The substrate stage 107 is driven at a high speed by a stage driving mechanism (for example, a linear motor).

  The positioning system 108 includes, for example, a laser interferometer that measures the position of the substrate stage 107, and controls the stage driving mechanism to position the substrate stage 107 (the substrate 106 held by the substrate stage 107) at a predetermined position.

  The resin supply unit 109 includes a dispenser head including a plurality of nozzles for dropping a liquid photo-curable resin (imprint material), and has a function of supplying (applying) the resin onto the substrate 106. The resin supply unit 109 employs a piezo jet method, a micro solenoid method, or the like, and supplies a very small volume of resin of about 1 pL (picoliter) onto the substrate 106. The resin can be applied onto the substrate 106 by moving the substrate stage 107 (scanning movement or step movement) while supplying the resin from the resin supply unit 109.

  The control unit 110 includes a CPU, a memory, and the like, and controls the whole (operation) of the imprint apparatus 1. In this embodiment, the control unit 110 controls the operation of supplying resin to the substrate 106 by the resin supply unit 109.

  Hereinafter, specific control related to the supply of resin to the substrate 106 in the imprint apparatus 1 will be described. FIG. 2A shows the position of the pattern surface 102a of the mold 102 (the position of the pattern surface 102a with respect to the substrate 106) when the mold 102 is impressed on the shot region SS on the substrate 106 (the resin supplied thereto). FIG. FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of the region α shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2B, a plurality of chip patterns 102b each having a pattern corresponding to one chip are generally formed on the pattern surface 102a of the mold 102. By transferring a plurality of chip patterns 102b formed on the pattern surface 102a to one shot region SR on the substrate 106, the throughput can be improved. However, as shown in FIG. 2B, the substrate 106 does not have only the pattern region PR that can transfer the entire pattern to be transferred. Specifically, in the vicinity of the edge of the substrate 106, there is a region that does not completely face the pattern surface 102a, that is, a missing region DR that cannot transfer the entire pattern to be transferred. In other words, the resin may be molded in the first region of the mold 102 and the resin may not be molded in the second region of the mold 102.

  As described above, in order to perform uniform processing on the substrate 106 in the process after pattern transfer (that is, to obtain process stability), the resin is supplied not only to the pattern region PT but also to the chipped region DR. There is a need to. As in the prior art, the resin (first imprint material) RS1 used for transferring the pattern of the mold 102 is also supplied to the chipped region DR, and the resin in the vicinity of the chipped region DR when the mold 102 is imprinted. The state (cross section) of RS1 is shown in FIG. Generally, as the resin RS1, a resin having a small static contact angle with respect to the mold 102 (pattern surface 102a) or a resin to which a surfactant or the like is added is used. This is because the resin RS1 is easily spread between the pattern surface 102a and the substrate 106, and the pattern surface 102a of the mold 102 is filled with the resin RS1 in a short time. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, in the chipped region DR, when the mold 102 is stamped, the resin RS1 supplied to the chipped region DR spreads along the pattern surface 102a and faces the substrate 106 of the pattern surface 102a. It will remain in the part that is not.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4A, the resin RS1 and the resin RS1 different from the resin RS1 are controlled for the missing region DR by controlling the resin supply to the substrate 106 by the resin supply unit 109. Second imprint material RS2 is supplied.
Specifically, the resin RS2 is supplied to the edge vicinity region (fourth region) DRa near the edge of the substrate 106, and the resin RS1 is supplied to the inner region (third region) DRb inside the edge vicinity region DRa. In other words, in the chipped region DR, the resin RS1 is supplied in the inner region (in the third region) not adjacent to the second region in the first region of the mold 102, and the second region in the first region of the mold 102 is supplied. Resin RS2 is supplied into the edge vicinity area adjacent to (in the fourth area). In addition, about pattern area | region PR, resin RS1 used in order to transcribe | transfer the pattern of the mold 102 is supplied. Note that the discrimination (determination) between the pattern region PR and the chipped region DR on the substrate 106 is based on information representing the dimension of the pattern surface 102 of the mold 102, the size of the substrate 106, and the layout on the substrate. Done in

  The first region DRa is a region on the edge side of the substrate 106 with respect to the position PS1 where the distance from the edge of the substrate 106 to the center of the substrate 106 is the first distance (for example, 1 mm or less) in the chipped region DR. . The second region DRb is a region obtained by removing the first region DRa from the missing region DR.

  As the resins RS1 and RS2, those in which the static contact angle of the resin RS2 with respect to the mold 102 (pattern surface 102a) is larger than the static contact angle of the resin RS1 with respect to the mold 102 are used. Accordingly, the resin RS2 is less likely to spread than the resin RS1 between the pattern surface 102a and the substrate 106. The resin used for the imprint apparatus generally contains two kinds of photopolymerizable monomers, a photoinitiator, a solvent, a surfactant, and the like. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the resin RS1 includes a resin containing 0.002 to 4% by mass of a surfactant and having a static contact angle with respect to the quartz mold 102 (pattern surface 102a) of 10 degrees or less. Yes. On the other hand, as the resin RS2, a resin is used in which the surfactant is removed from the resin RS1 and the static contact angle with respect to the mold 102 is about 90 degrees. However, the value of the static contact angle of the resin RS2 or RS1 with respect to the mold 102 is not limited. As described above, the static contact angle of the resin RS2 with respect to the mold 102 is larger than the static contact angle of the resin RS1 with respect to the mold 102. That's fine.

  FIG. 4B shows the state (cross section) of the resins RS1 and RS2 in the vicinity of the chipped region DR when the mold 102 is imprinted in the present embodiment. Referring to FIG. 4B, even if the mold 102 is imprinted, the resin RS2 has a large static contact angle with respect to the mold 102 (about 90 degrees), so the resin RS2 is between the pattern surface 102a and the substrate 106. Hardly spread. Further, the resin RS2 suppresses the resin RS1 that spreads along the pattern surface 102a. Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the mold 102 is imprinted in the chipped region DR, the resins RS1 and RS2 supplied to the chipped region DR do not remain in a portion of the pattern surface 102a that does not face the substrate 106.

  As shown in FIG. 5, in the chipped region DR, the resin RS2 is supplied along the edge of the substrate 106 to the first region DRa, and the resin RS2 is supplied along the edge of the substrate 106 to the second region DRb. RS1 may be supplied. In this case, since the resin RS2 may be supplied in a circular shape to the first region DRa, before the imprint process is started, the resin RS2 is added to the first region DRa of all the chipped regions DR near the edge of the substrate 106. Can be supplied (coated). Accordingly, the resin RS2 is supplied to the first region DRa of all the chipped regions DR in the vicinity of the edge of the substrate outside the imprint apparatus 1, and the substrate is carried into the imprint apparatus 1 and supplied with the resin RS1. It is also possible to perform processing. In the imprint apparatus 1, rather than alternately supplying the resin RS1 and the resin RS2 for each imprint process, the substrate to which the resin RS2 is supplied before the imprint process is transported and the resin RS1 is supplied. It is more efficient to perform imprint processing.

  The structure of the resin supply part 109 which supplies resin RS1 and RS2 to the board | substrate 106 is demonstrated. FIG. 6 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of the configuration of the resin supply unit 109.

  For example, the resin supply unit 109 includes a nozzle (supply port) 109a for supplying the resin RS1 and a nozzle (supply port) 109b for supplying the resin RS2, as shown in FIG. Consists of a head. The nozzle 109a is connected to a container (first container) 109c that stores the resin RS1, and supplies the resin RS1 stored in the container 109c to the substrate 106 under the control of the control unit 110. The nozzle 109b is connected to a container (second container) 109d that stores the resin RS2 and supplies the resin RS2 stored in the container 109d to the substrate 106 under the control of the control unit 110. 6A shows an integrated dispenser head including the nozzles 109a and 109b, the dispenser head including the nozzle 109a and the dispenser head including the nozzle 109b may be configured separately.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6B, a dispenser including a nozzle (supply port) 109e for switchingly (selectively) supplying the resin RS1 accommodated in the container 109c and the resin RS2 accommodated in the container 109d. The resin supply unit 109 may be configured with a head. In this case, the resin supplied from the nozzle 109e to the substrate 106 can be controlled by the control unit 110 controlling the switching unit 109f that switches the container connected to the nozzle 109e.

  Further, as described above, when the dispenser head including the nozzle 109a and the dispenser head including the nozzle 109b are configured separately, the throughput can be further improved. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, a first supply mechanism 161 configured by a dispenser head including a nozzle 109a and a dispenser head configured by a dispenser head including a nozzle 109b. The resin supply unit 109 is configured by the two supply mechanism 162. FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are a plan view and a side view, respectively, schematically showing an example of the configuration of the resin supply unit 109.

  The second supply mechanism 162 is disposed outside the substrate 106 held on the substrate stage 107. Further, the second supply mechanism 162 is driven in the circumferential direction of the substrate 106 by the drive mechanism 163 so that the nozzle 109b moves along the vicinity of the edge of the substrate 106 (specifically, the first region DRa of the chipped region DR). Driven. Thereby, the second supply mechanism 162 can supply the resin RS2 to the first regions DRa of all the chipped regions DR in the vicinity of the edge of the substrate. The first supply mechanism 161 may be fixed in the vicinity of the mold 102, or may be driven in synchronization with the mold 102 or independently of the mold 102.

  According to the resin supply unit 109 shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B, the second supply mechanism 162 sets the first region DRa of the missing region DR while the imprint process is performed on the pattern region PR. Resin RS2 can be supplied. Therefore, when imprint processing is performed on the missing region DR, a complicated process of applying the resin while controlling the supply of the resin RS1 and the supply of the resin RS2 is not necessary, and the throughput can be improved. .

  When the imprint apparatus 1 supplies the resin to the chipped region DR of the substrate 106, the imprint device 1 supplies the resin RS2 to the first region DRa and supplies the resin RS1 to the second region DRb. This prevents the resins RS1 and RS2 supplied to the chipped region DR from remaining on the portion of the pattern surface 102a that does not face the substrate 106. Further, the chipped region DR is not exposed, and the substrate can be uniformly processed in the process after pattern transfer. Therefore, the imprint apparatus 1 can manufacture devices (semiconductor devices, liquid crystal display elements, etc.) with high productivity. The method for manufacturing a device as an article includes a step of transferring (forming) a pattern onto a substrate (wafer, glass plate, film-like substrate, etc.) using the imprint apparatus 1. The manufacturing method further includes a step of etching the substrate on which the pattern is transferred. In addition, when manufacturing other articles, such as a pattern dot media (recording medium) and an optical element, this manufacturing method includes the other process step which processes the board | substrate with which the pattern was transferred instead of an etching step. .

  As mentioned above, although preferable embodiment of this invention was described, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to these embodiment, A various deformation | transformation and change are possible within the range of the summary.

Claims (6)

An imprint apparatus for forming a pattern on the substrate by forming and curing an imprint material on the substrate with a mold,
A supply unit for supplying an imprint material onto the substrate;
A control unit for controlling the operation of the supply by the supply unit;
Have
The supply unit supplies a first imprint material and a second imprint material having a static contact angle larger than the static contact angle of the first imprint material to the mold onto the substrate.
When the imprint material is formed in the first region of the mold and the imprint material is not formed in the second region of the mold, the control unit is not adjacent to the second region in the first region. The first imprint material is supplied into three regions, and the second imprint material is supplied into a fourth region adjacent to the second region in the first region. Control the operation of feeding,
An imprint apparatus characterized by that.   The imprint apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines the third area and the fourth area based on information representing a layout of a shot area on the substrate.   The imprint apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the supply unit includes a supply port that supplies the first imprint material and a supply port that supplies the second imprint material. .   The supply unit includes a first container that stores the first imprint material, a second container that stores the second imprint material, the first imprint material stored in the first container, and the first container. The imprint apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a supply port that selectively supplies the second imprint material accommodated in two containers. An imprint method for forming an imprint material on a substrate by molding with a mold and forming a pattern on the substrate,
When the imprint material is molded in the first region of the mold and the imprint material is not molded in the second region of the mold, the second region in the first region is not adjacent to the second region. Supplying 1 imprint material, supplying a second imprint material in a fourth region adjacent to the second region in the first region,
The stationary contact angle of the second imprint material with respect to the mold is larger than the stationary contact angle of the first imprint material with respect to the mold.
An imprint method characterized by the above. Forming a pattern on a substrate using the imprint apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, and
Processing the substrate on which the pattern has been formed in the step;
A method for producing an article comprising:

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