JP4428792B2 - Exposure equipment - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus for transferring a pattern such as a mask as an original to a substrate as an exposure object in an exposure apparatus used for manufacturing a liquid crystal panel.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, the application fields of liquid crystal panels have been diversified, and as a result, panel manufacturers have been forced to respond to the demand for a large number of panel sizes.
The size of the glass substrate used in a normal liquid crystal panel production line is one type, and if the panel size to be manufactured is determined, the layout of the liquid crystal panel that can be manufactured from one glass substrate is naturally determined to be several types. Setting an unreasonable panel layout can reduce efficiency.
[0003]
In order to build a line that can produce panels of various sizes without degrading efficiency, recently, as shown in FIG. 4, the glass substrate 9 is rotated 90 degrees to expose it, and variations in the panel layout are achieved. There are ways to increase it.
[0004]
However, in the conventional exposure apparatus, there is no means for rotating the direction of the glass substrate by 90 degrees. To rotate the glass substrate by 90 degrees, a holding plate (hereinafter referred to as a plate chuck) that holds the glass substrate inside the exposure apparatus is unavoidable. The mounting direction was changed to meet the demand for 90 ° rotation.
[0005]
Furthermore, in addition to changing the holding plate inside the exposure apparatus, it is necessary to rotate the glass substrate by 90 degrees when transferring the glass substrate from the machine before the exposure to the exposure apparatus. Even remodeling was necessary.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
As described above, even if there is a merit of rotating the glass substrate by 90 degrees, there is actually a great remodeling load on the production line, and even if remodeling is performed, there are the following drawbacks.
(1) Two types of plate chucks for holding the glass substrate are required.
(2) Two types of plate chucks must be remounted on the exposure apparatus every time the panel layout is changed.
(3) A mechanism for rotating the glass substrate by 90 degrees is necessary when the glass substrate is carried into the exposure apparatus.
[0007]
There is also a method of making a chuck that can be held in two ways, but the chuck becomes larger and heavier, leading to deterioration in stage accuracy of the exposure apparatus. Nevertheless, (3) in the above item is indispensable.
[0008]
An object of the present invention is to provide an exposure apparatus capable of positioning two kinds of glass substrates by preparing a stage that can rotate from 0 to 90 degrees with respect to the exposure direction using only one type of chuck .
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An exposure apparatus according to the present invention for solving the above problems is an exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate, a stage that moves in the X direction and the Y direction, a chuck that holds the substrate, and is fixed to the stage. An X bar mirror used when measuring the position of the stage in the X direction and a plate to which a Y bar mirror used when measuring the position of the stage in the Y direction is attached; and provided on the plate; A rotation mechanism that supports the chuck and rotates the chuck at least 90 degrees in the XY plane with respect to the plate, the rotation mechanism exposing the substrate size and the substrate. The chuck is rotated so as to match the direction determined according to the size of the panel to be adjusted .
[0011]
【Example】
(First embodiment)
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
1 and 2 are perspective views showing the concept of a plate stage mounted on an exposure apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
In the plate stage shown in FIG. 1 mounted in this exposure apparatus, 1 is an X bar mirror arranged facing the X direction, 2 is a Y bar mirror arranged facing the Y direction, and 3 is an X bar mirror 1 and Y A bar mirror mounting plate for fixing the bar mirror 2, 4 an X direction guide for restraining the exposure stage and guiding it in the X direction, 5 a plate chuck as a holding plate for fixing the glass substrate, and 6 for rotating the plate chuck 5. A rotation mechanism 7 is an X-direction slider on which the bar mirror mounting plate 3 is mounted.
[0012]
The bar mirror mounting plate 3 constitutes an exposure stage that can be exposed after aligning a glass substrate as an object to be exposed. The rotation mechanism 6 is installed on the X-direction slider 7 and includes a rotatable disk 6a protruding on the bar mirror mounting plate 3, and supports the plate chuck 5 so that the plate chuck 5 can rotate at least 90 degrees. ing.
[0013]
In the above configuration, when a glass substrate (not shown) is conveyed to the plate chuck 5, alignment is performed, and then scanning is performed in the Y direction in the drawing and exposure is performed. If necessary, the slider 7 slides (steps) in the X direction in the figure, and scans in the Y direction again to expose the glass substrate. When such an operation is repeated and the entire surface of the glass substrate is exposed, the glass substrate is unloaded from the plate chuck 5 and the next glass substrate is conveyed again to the plate chuck 5.
[0014]
Next, when changing the layout of the panel to be produced using the same size glass substrate, the glass substrate is held on the plate chuck 5 in the state shown in FIG. 1, and then the plate chuck is rotated as shown in FIG. By rotating the plate chuck 5 by 90 degrees with the mechanism 6, the direction of the glass substrate with respect to the exposure direction is changed by 90 degrees, so that another panel layout can be constructed while the glass substrate is the same size, and a liquid crystal panel of another size can be constructed. Can be produced.
[0015]
(Second embodiment)
FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining a second embodiment of the present invention.
In a manufacturing process in which vertical and horizontal stripes are drawn on a glass substrate, first, vertical lines are drawn using a mask 8 having vertical lines 8a as shown in FIG. As shown, a horizontal line can be drawn by rotating the glass substrate 90 by 90 degrees and exposing using the same mask 8.
According to the second embodiment of the present invention, in the vertical and horizontal stripe process, vertical and horizontal stripes can be drawn on the glass substrate 9 with only one vertical stripe mask.
(Third embodiment)
Next, the rotating mechanism 6 constituting the third embodiment of the present invention causes the glass substrate 9 to be aligned in the direction determined in accordance with the input of a job defining the layout of the panel exposed on the glass substrate 9 Then, the plate chuck 5 is rotated.
According to the third embodiment of the present invention, by inputting the size of the glass substrate 9 and the desired panel size, the exposure apparatus calculates the optimal direction of the glass substrate 9, and the rotation mechanism 6 automatically By changing the direction of the glass substrate 9 in the direction of 0 or 90 degrees, a panel can be produced efficiently.
[0016]
[Example of device production method]
Next, an embodiment of a device production method using the above-described projection exposure apparatus will be described.
FIG. 5 shows a manufacturing flow of a microdevice (a semiconductor chip such as an IC or LSI, a liquid crystal panel, a CCD, a thin film magnetic head, a micromachine, etc.). In step 1 (circuit design), a device pattern is designed. In step 2 (mask production), a mask on which the designed pattern is formed is produced. On the other hand, in step 3 (wafer manufacture), a wafer (particularly a glass substrate) is manufactured using a material such as silicon or glass. Step 4 (wafer process) is called a pre-process, and an actual circuit is formed on the wafer by lithography using the prepared mask and wafer. The next step 5 (assembly) is referred to as a post-process, and is a process for forming a semiconductor chip using the wafer produced in step 4, such as an assembly process (dicing, bonding), a packaging process (chip encapsulation), and the like. including. In step 6 (inspection), the semiconductor device manufactured in step 5 undergoes inspections such as an operation confirmation test and a durability test. Through these steps, the semiconductor device is completed and shipped (step 7).
[0017]
FIG. 6 shows a detailed flow of the wafer process. In step 11 (oxidation), the wafer surface is oxidized. In step 12 (CVD), an insulating film is formed on the wafer surface. In step 13 (electrode formation), an electrode is formed on the wafer by vapor deposition. In step 14 (ion implantation), ions are implanted into the wafer. In step 15 (resist process), a photosensitive agent is applied to the wafer. In step 16 (exposure), the circuit pattern of the mask is printed on the wafer by exposure using the projection exposure apparatus described above. In step 17 (development), the exposed wafer is developed. In step 18 (etching), portions other than the developed resist image are removed. In step 19 (resist stripping), unnecessary resist after etching is removed. By repeatedly performing these steps, multiple circuit patterns are formed on the wafer.
[0018]
By using the production method of this embodiment, a highly integrated device that has been difficult to manufacture can be manufactured at low cost.
[0019]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, in a liquid crystal panel manufacturing exposure apparatus, a single glass substrate can be placed in two directions, vertical and horizontal, without changing the plate chuck or changing the plate transport mechanism. As a result, the variation of panel layouts that can be produced from a single glass substrate is increased.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a concept of a plate stage mounted on an exposure apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a perspective view showing a state in which the chuck in FIG. 1 is rotated by 90 degrees. FIG.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a method of drawing vertical and horizontal stripes by rotating a glass substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention by 90 degrees.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a conventional panel layout.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a flow of manufacturing a microdevice.
6 is a diagram showing a detailed flow of the wafer process in FIG. 5. FIG.
[Explanation of symbols]
1: X bar mirror, 2: Y bar mirror, 3: Bar mirror mounting plate (constituting exposure stage), 4: X direction guide, 5: Plate chuck (holding plate ), 6: Rotating mechanism, 7: X direction slider, 8: Mask (original), 9: Glass substrate (exposed body).

Claims (6)

An exposure apparatus for exposing a substrate,
A stage that moves in the X and Y directions;
A chuck for holding the substrate;
An X-bar mirror fixed to the stage and used for measuring the position of the stage in the X direction, and a plate to which a Y-bar mirror used for measuring the position of the stage in the Y direction is attached;
A rotation mechanism provided on the plate, supporting the chuck, and rotating the chuck at least 90 degrees in the XY plane with respect to the plate ;
The exposure apparatus characterized in that the rotating mechanism rotates the chuck so that the orientation of the substrate matches a direction determined according to a size of the substrate and a size of a panel exposed to the substrate . The direction determined according to the size of the substrate and the size of the panel exposed on the substrate is determined from one substrate based on the size of the substrate and the size of the panel exposed on the substrate. 2. The exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the exposure apparatus is in a direction required to obtain a large number of panels. The exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rotation mechanism rotates the chuck after the exposure of the entire surface of the substrate is completed.   4. The exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size of the panel exposed to the substrate is different before and after the chuck is rotated. 5. It said substrate exposure apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a glass substrate having a surface to be exposed of the rectangle. Using an exposure apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, comprising the steps of exposing a substrate,
And developing the exposed substrate. A device manufacturing method comprising:

Images