JP5314461B2 - Substrate processing method, program, computer storage medium, and substrate processing system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a substrate processing method, a program, a computer storage medium, and a substrate processing system for performing a photolithography process and an etching process on a substrate on which a film to be processed is formed to form a predetermined pattern on the film to be processed.

  For example, in the manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, for example, a resist coating process for coating a resist solution on a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter referred to as “wafer”) to form a resist film, an exposure process for exposing a predetermined pattern on the resist film, A post-exposure baking process (hereinafter referred to as “PEB process”) for heating to promote the chemical reaction of the resist film after the exposure, a photolithography process for sequentially developing the exposed resist film, and the like are performed. A predetermined resist pattern is formed on the wafer. Using the resist pattern as a mask, the processing target film on the wafer is etched, and then the resist film is removed to form a predetermined pattern on the processing target film.

  The above-described etching process is performed, for example, by supplying a predetermined plasma gas to a film to be processed on the wafer. In the etching process, the atmosphere in the processing chamber is usually exhausted from the outer peripheral part of the wafer, so that particles generated during the etching process tend to gather at the outer peripheral part as compared to the central part of the wafer. If it does so, an etching process is not appropriately performed in the outer peripheral part of a wafer, and the line width of the outer peripheral part of the pattern of a to-be-processed film | membrane becomes easy to become non-uniform | heterogenous. For this reason, although the process conditions of the etching process with respect to the outer peripheral part of a board | substrate are adjusted, it is the present condition that it has not led to improving the nonuniformity of the line | wire width of an outer peripheral part.

  Therefore, in order to form a predetermined pattern on the film to be processed, it has been proposed to optimize the line width of the resist pattern formed by photolithography. In such a case, for example, first, a photolithography process is performed on the wafer for inspection to form a resist pattern on the film to be processed, and the line width of the resist pattern is measured. Thereafter, various processing conditions of the photolithography processing performed on the wafer are corrected based on the measurement result of the line width.

  As processing conditions to be corrected, for example, processing conditions for exposure processing have been proposed. The correction of the processing conditions of the exposure process is performed by correcting the exposure amount of light irradiated on the wafer, for example.

  Further, as another processing condition to be corrected, for example, a processing condition for PEB processing has been proposed. Correction of the processing conditions of the PEB processing is performed, for example, by correcting the temperature of a hot plate that places and heats the wafer. For example, a heater that generates heat by power feeding is incorporated in the hot plate, and the hot plate is adjusted to a predetermined temperature by adjusting the temperature of the heater (Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-228816 A

  However, for example, in the case where a dense resist pattern is mixed on the wafer, if the exposure amount of the exposure process is corrected, the change amount of the sparse resist pattern becomes larger than the change amount of the dense resist pattern. For this reason, it has been difficult to optimize the resist pattern by correcting the exposure amount.

  Further, when correcting the heating temperature of the PEB process, even if the heating plate is divided into a plurality of regions and the heating temperature of the plurality of regions is individually corrected, the heating plate heat-buffers, so the outer periphery of the heating plate It is difficult to correct only the part temperature. In addition, since the wafer has high thermal conductivity, it is difficult to significantly correct the heating temperature only at the outer peripheral portion of the wafer. For this reason, it has been difficult to optimize the resist pattern by correcting the heating temperature.

  Therefore, in the conventionally proposed method, the line width of the outer peripheral portion of the pattern of the film to be processed cannot be made uniform, and the line width of the pattern cannot be made uniform in the wafer surface.

  The present invention has been made in view of this point, and an object of the present invention is to make the line width of a pattern of a film to be processed formed on a substrate uniform within the substrate surface.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a substrate processing method for performing a photolithography process and an etching process on a substrate on which a film to be processed is formed, and forming a predetermined pattern on the film to be processed. After forming a pattern on the film to be processed, a line width measuring step of measuring the line width of the outer peripheral portion of the pattern of the film to be processed, and the line width measured in the line width measuring step is a predetermined target line width If larger, in the development process of the photolithography process, the supply amount of the developer supplied to the outer peripheral portion of the substrate is increased, or the line width measured in the line width measurement step is smaller than a predetermined target line width. in this case, after the development processing of the photolithography process has etching resistance to the outer peripheral portion of the substrate, and a processing solution having insoluble to supply the developing solution includes a correction step, wherein the accessory A photolithography process is performed on the substrate based on the process conditions, a resist pattern is formed on the film to be processed, and then the substrate is etched using the resist pattern as a mask to form a predetermined pattern on the film to be processed. It is characterized by that. In addition, the outer peripheral part here means the area | region of 20 mm-30 mm from the periphery of a board | substrate or a to-be-processed film, for example.

According to the present invention, for example, when the measured line width of the outer peripheral portion of the pattern of the film to be processed is larger than a predetermined target line width, the supply amount of the developer supplied to the outer peripheral portion of the substrate in the developing process is increased. Therefore, the line width of the outer peripheral portion of the resist pattern formed on the substrate can be reduced. Further, for example, when the line width of the outer periphery of the pattern of the measured target film is smaller than a predetermined target line width, have a resistance to etching the outer peripheral portion of the substrate after development, and insoluble to the developer solution since supplying a processing solution having a thin treatment film is formed on the outer circumferential portion of the resist pattern formed on the substrate, it is possible to increase the line width of the outer peripheral portion. Then, etching is performed on the substrate using the resist pattern in which the line width of the outer peripheral portion is adjusted in this way as a mask, and a pattern is formed on the film to be processed, so that the line width of the outer peripheral portion of the pattern is set to the target line width can do. Therefore, the line width of the pattern of the film to be processed can be made uniform in the substrate surface.

  In the line width measuring step, the line width other than the outer peripheral portion of the pattern of the film to be processed is also measured, and in the correcting step, the line width of the outer peripheral portion measured in the line width measuring step and the line width other than the outer peripheral portion. Based on the above, in the heat treatment performed after the exposure process during the photolithography process and before the development process, the heating temperature of the outer peripheral portion of the substrate and the heating temperature other than the outer peripheral portion of the substrate may be individually corrected. .

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program that runs on a computer of a control device that controls the substrate processing system in order to cause the substrate processing method to execute the substrate processing method.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, a readable computer storage medium storing the program.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate processing system for performing a photolithography process and an etching process on a substrate on which a film to be processed is formed, and forming a predetermined pattern on the film to be processed. A coating / development processing apparatus, an etching processing apparatus for etching the substrate, a line width measuring apparatus for measuring the line width of the outer peripheral portion of the pattern of the film to be processed, and the line width measured by the line width measuring apparatus Is larger than a predetermined target line width, in the development process performed in the coating and developing apparatus, the supply amount of the developer supplied to the outer peripheral portion of the substrate is increased or measured by the line width measuring apparatus. If the line width is less than the predetermined target line width after the development processing performed in the coating and developing apparatus, have a resistance to etching the outer peripheral portion of the substrate, and to-the developer It is characterized by and a control device for supplying a processing solution having insoluble Te.

  The line width measuring device also measures a line width other than the outer peripheral portion of the pattern of the film to be processed, and the control device is a heating process performed after the exposure process and before the development process performed in the coating and developing apparatus. In this case, the heating temperature of the outer peripheral portion of the substrate and the heating temperature other than the outer peripheral portion of the substrate may be individually corrected.

  According to the present invention, the line width of the outer peripheral portion of the pattern of the film to be processed formed on the substrate can be set to the target line width, and the line width of the pattern of the film to be processed is made uniform in the substrate plane. be able to.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline of a structure of the substrate processing system concerning this Embodiment. It is a top view which shows the outline of a structure of a coating and developing apparatus. It is a front view of a coating and developing apparatus. It is a rear view of a coating and developing apparatus. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the outline of a structure of a development processing apparatus. It is a cross-sectional view which shows the outline of a structure of a development processing apparatus. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the outline of a structure of a PEB apparatus. It is a top view which shows the structure of the hot platen of a PEB apparatus. It is explanatory drawing which shows the area | region of the divided | segmented wafer. It is a top view which shows the outline of a structure of an etching processing apparatus. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the outline of a structure of a line | wire width measuring apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a control apparatus . It is a graph which shows the 3rd correlation with the heating temperature in a PEB apparatus, and the line width of the pattern of a to-be-processed film. It is the flowchart which showed each process of wafer processing. It is explanatory drawing which showed a mode that the developing solution was supplied on a wafer.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an outline of a configuration of a substrate processing system 1 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the substrate processing system 1 includes a coating / development processing apparatus 2 that performs photolithography processing on a wafer, and an etching processing apparatus 3 that performs etching processing on a film to be processed on the wafer.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the coating and developing treatment apparatus 2 is a cassette that carries, for example, 25 wafers W in and out of the coating and developing treatment apparatus 2 from the outside in a cassette unit, and carries a wafer W into and out of the cassette C. A station 10, a processing station 11 in which a plurality of various processing apparatuses for performing predetermined processing in a single-wafer type in photolithography processing are arranged in multiple stages, and an exposure apparatus provided adjacent to the processing station 11 The interface station 13 that transfers the wafer W to and from the unit 12 is integrally connected.

  The cassette station 10 is provided with a cassette mounting table 14 that can mount a plurality of cassettes C in a row in the X direction (vertical direction in FIG. 2). The cassette station 10 is provided with a wafer transfer body 16 that can move in the X direction on the transfer path 15. The wafer carrier 16 is also movable in the wafer arrangement direction (Z direction; vertical direction) of the wafers W accommodated in the cassette C, and is selective to the wafers W in each cassette C arranged in the X direction. Is accessible.

  The wafer carrier 16 is rotatable in the θ direction around the Z axis, and a temperature control device 50 belonging to a third processing device group G3 on the processing station 11 side described later, and a transition device 51 for delivering the wafer W. Is also accessible.

  The processing station 11 adjacent to the cassette station 10 has, for example, five processing device groups G1 to G5 in which a plurality of processing devices are arranged in multiple stages. A first processing device group G1 and a second processing device group G2 are sequentially arranged from the cassette station 10 side on the X direction negative direction (downward direction in FIG. 2) side of the processing station 11. A third processing device group G3, a fourth processing device group G4, and a fifth processing device group G5 are arranged in order from the cassette station 10 side on the X direction positive direction (upward direction in FIG. 2) side of the processing station 11. Has been placed. A first transfer device 17 is provided between the third processing device group G3 and the fourth processing device group G4. The first transfer device 17 can selectively access each processing device in the first processing device group G1, the third processing device group G3, and the fourth processing device group G4 to transfer the wafer W. A second transfer device 18 is provided between the fourth processing device group G4 and the fifth processing device group G5. The second transfer device 18 can selectively access each processing device in the second processing device group G2, the fourth processing device group G4, and the fifth processing device group G5 to transfer the wafer W. it can.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the first processing apparatus group G1 is a liquid processing apparatus that supplies a predetermined liquid to the wafer W and performs processing, for example, resist coating apparatuses 20, 21, and 22 that apply a resist solution to the wafer W. Bottom coating devices 23 and 24 for forming an antireflection film for preventing reflection of light during the exposure process are stacked in five stages in order from the bottom. In the second processing unit group G2, liquid processing units, for example, development processing units 30 to 34 for supplying a developing solution to the wafer W and performing development processing are stacked in five stages in order from the bottom. In addition, chemical chambers 40 and 41 for supplying various processing liquids to the liquid processing apparatuses in the processing apparatus groups G1 and G2 are provided at the bottom of the first processing apparatus group G1 and the second processing apparatus group G2. Each is provided.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the third processing unit group G3 includes a temperature control unit 50, a transition unit 51, high-precision temperature control units 52 to 54 that adjust the temperature of the wafer W under high-precision temperature control, and the wafer W. High-temperature heat treatment apparatuses 55 to 58 that perform heat treatment at high temperatures are stacked in nine stages in order from the bottom.

  The fourth processing unit group G4 includes, for example, a high-precision temperature control unit 60, pre-baking units 61 to 64 (hereinafter referred to as “PAB units”) that heat-treat the wafer W after the resist coating process, and after the development process. Post-baking apparatuses 65 to 69 (hereinafter referred to as “POST apparatuses”) that heat-treat the wafer W are stacked in 10 stages in order from the bottom.

  The fifth processing unit group G5 includes a plurality of heat treatment apparatuses for heat-treating the wafer W, such as high-precision temperature control apparatuses 70 to 73, and post-exposure baking apparatuses 74 to 79 (hereinafter, “ PEB devices ") are stacked in 10 stages in order from the bottom.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of processing devices are arranged on the positive side in the X direction of the first transfer device 17, and as shown in FIG. 4, an adhesion device 80 for hydrophobizing the wafer W, 81, heating devices 82 and 83 for heating the wafer W are stacked in four stages in order from the bottom. As shown in FIG. 2, on the positive side in the X direction of the second transfer device 18, for example, a peripheral exposure device 84 that selectively exposes only the edge portion of the wafer W is disposed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the interface station 13 is provided with a wafer transfer body 91 that moves on a transfer path 90 that extends in the X direction, and a buffer cassette 92. The wafer transfer body 91 is movable in the Z direction and is also rotatable in the θ direction, and accesses the exposure apparatus 12 adjacent to the interface station 13, the buffer cassette 92, and the fifth processing apparatus group G5. The wafer W can be transferred.

  Next, the configuration of the development processing apparatuses 30 to 34 described above will be described. As shown in FIG. 5, the development processing apparatus 30 has a processing container 100, and a spin chuck 110 that holds and rotates the wafer W is provided at the center of the processing container 100. The spin chuck 110 has a horizontal upper surface, and a suction port (not shown) for sucking, for example, the wafer W is provided on the upper surface. By suction from the suction port, the wafer W can be sucked and held on the spin chuck 110.

  The spin chuck 110 includes a chuck driving mechanism 111 including, for example, a motor, and can be rotated at a predetermined speed by the chuck driving mechanism 111. Further, the chuck drive mechanism 111 is provided with an elevating drive source such as a cylinder, so that the spin chuck 110 can move up and down.

  Around the spin chuck 110, a cup 112 that receives and collects the liquid scattered or dropped from the wafer W is provided. The cup 112 has an opening larger than the wafer W so that the spin chuck 110 can move up and down on the upper surface. Connected to the lower surface of the cup 112 are a discharge pipe 113 for discharging the collected liquid and an exhaust pipe 114 for exhausting the atmosphere in the cup 112.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the rail 120 extended | stretched along the Y direction (left-right direction of FIG. 6) is formed in the X direction negative direction (downward direction of FIG. 6) side of the cup 112. As shown in FIG. The rail 120 is formed, for example, from the outer side of the cup 112 on the Y direction negative direction (left direction in FIG. 2) to the outer side on the Y direction positive direction (right direction in FIG. 2). For example, three arms 121, 122, and 123 are attached to the rail 120.

  The first arm 121 supports a developer nozzle 124 for supplying a developer as shown in FIGS. The first arm 121 is movable on the rail 120 by a nozzle driving unit 125 shown in FIG. As a result, the developer nozzle 124 can move from the standby unit 126 installed outside the cup 112 on the positive side in the Y direction to above the center of the wafer W in the cup 112. The first arm 121 can be moved up and down by a nozzle driving unit 125 and the height of the developer nozzle 124 can be adjusted.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a supply pipe 128 that communicates with the developer supply source 127 is connected to the developer nozzle 124. A developer is stored in the developer supply source 127. The supply pipe 128 is provided with a supply device group 129 including a valve for controlling the flow of the developing solution, a flow rate adjusting unit, and the like.

  A pure water nozzle 130 for supplying pure water is supported on the second arm 122. The second arm 122 is movable on the rail 120 by a nozzle driving unit 131 shown in FIG. As a result, the pure water nozzle 130 passes from the standby portion 132 provided on the outer side of the cup 112 in the Y direction positive direction to the upper side of the center of the wafer W in the cup 112 to the negative direction side of the cup 112 in the Y direction. It is possible to move to a standby unit 133 provided outside the vehicle. The standby unit 132 is provided between the outside of the cup 112 on the negative side in the X direction and the standby unit 126. Further, the second arm 122 can be moved up and down by the nozzle driving unit 131, and the height of the pure water nozzle 130 can be adjusted.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a supply pipe 135 communicating with a pure water supply source 134 is connected to the pure water nozzle 130. Pure water is stored in the pure water supply source 134. The supply pipe 135 is provided with a supply device group 136 including a valve for controlling the flow of pure water, a flow rate adjusting unit, and the like.

  A treatment liquid nozzle 137 for supplying a treatment liquid is supported on the third arm 123. The third arm 123 is movable on the rail 120 by a nozzle driving unit 138 shown in FIG. Accordingly, the processing liquid nozzle 137 can be moved from the standby unit 139 provided on the Y direction negative direction side of the standby unit 133 of the pure water nozzle 130 to above the center of the wafer W in the cup 112. Further, the third arm 123 can be raised and lowered by the nozzle driving unit 138, and the height of the processing liquid nozzle 137 can be adjusted. The processing solution is a material that has etching resistance and is insoluble in the developer, and contains, for example, an amine-based silicon compound.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a supply pipe 141 communicating with the treatment liquid supply source 140 is connected to the treatment liquid nozzle 137. Pure water is stored in the processing liquid supply source 140. The supply pipe 141 is provided with a supply device group 142 including a valve for controlling the flow of pure water, a flow rate adjusting unit, and the like.

  The supply of the developer by the developer nozzle 124, the supply of pure water by the pure water nozzle 130, and the supply of the treatment liquid by the treatment liquid nozzle 137 are performed by, for example, the control device 400 described later.

  In the above configuration, the developer nozzle 124 that supplies the developer, the pure water nozzle 130 that supplies the pure water, and the processing liquid nozzle 137 that supplies the processing liquid are supported by separate arms. The movement and supply timing of the developing solution nozzle 124, the pure water nozzle 130, and the processing solution nozzle 137 may be controlled by controlling the movement of the arm supported.

  The configuration of the development processing apparatuses 31 to 34 is the same as that of the development processing apparatus 30 described above, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  Next, the configuration of the PEB devices 74 to 79 described above will be described. In the PEB device 74, as shown in FIG. 7, a lid 200 that can be moved up and down is located on the upper side, and a hot plate housing that forms a processing chamber K integrally with the lid 200 that is located on the lower side. A unit 201 is provided.

  The lid 200 has a substantially cylindrical shape with an open bottom surface. An exhaust part 200 a is provided at the center of the upper surface of the lid 200. The atmosphere in the processing chamber K is uniformly exhausted from the exhaust part 200a.

  The hot plate accommodating portion 201 includes an annular holding member 211 that holds the hot plate 210 and holds the outer peripheral portion of the hot plate 210, and a substantially cylindrical support ring 212 that surrounds the outer periphery of the holding member 211. .

As shown in FIG. 8, the hot plate 210 is divided into a plurality of, for example, two hot plate regions R ₁ and R ₂ . The hot plate 210 is, for example, located in the center as viewed from above, and is divided into a circular hot plate region R ₁ and a hot plate region R ₂ on the outer periphery thereof.

Each of the hot plate regions R ₁ and R ₂ of the hot plate 210 has a built-in heater 213 that generates heat by power feeding and can be heated for each of the hot plate regions R ₁ and R ₂ . The amount of heat generated by the heater 213 in each of the hot plate regions R ₁ and R ₂ is adjusted by the temperature control device 214. The temperature controller 214 can adjust the heat generation amount of the heater 213 to control the temperature of each of the hot plate regions R ₁ and R ₂ to a predetermined heating temperature. The setting of the heating temperature in the temperature control device 214 is performed by, for example, the control device 400 described later. Then, the central portion W ₁ and the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W as shown in FIG. 9 are individually heated by the hot plate 210. Incidentally, the outer peripheral portion _{W 2} is, for example, a region of 20mm~30mm from the periphery of the wafer W.

  As shown in FIG. 7, below the hot plate 210, lift pins 220 are provided for supporting the wafer W from below and moving it up and down. The lift pins 220 can be moved up and down by a lift drive mechanism 221. A through-hole 222 that penetrates the hot plate 210 in the thickness direction is formed in the vicinity of the center of the hot plate 210, and the lift pins 220 rise from below the hot plate 210 and pass through the through-hole 222. It can protrude above the plate 210.

  In addition, about the structure of PEB apparatuses 75-79, since it is the same as that of the PEB apparatus 74 mentioned above, description is abbreviate | omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the etching processing apparatus 3 includes a cassette station 300 that carries a wafer W into and out of the etching processing apparatus 3, a common transport unit 301 that transports the wafer W, and a film to be processed on the wafer W in a predetermined pattern. Etching apparatuses 302 and 303 for performing etching, and line width measuring apparatuses 304 and 305 for measuring the line width of the pattern of the film to be processed.

  The cassette station 300 has a transfer chamber 311 in which a wafer transfer mechanism 310 for transferring the wafer W is provided. The wafer transfer mechanism 310 has two transfer arms 310a and 310b that hold the wafer W substantially horizontally, and is configured to transfer the wafer W while holding it by either of the transfer arms 310a and 310b. . A cassette mounting table 312 on which a cassette C capable of storing a plurality of wafers W side by side is mounted is provided on the side of the transfer chamber 311. In the illustrated example, a plurality of, for example, three cassettes C can be mounted on the cassette mounting table 312.

  The transfer chamber 311 and the common transfer unit 301 are connected to each other via two load lock devices 313a and 313b that can be evacuated.

  The common transfer unit 301 includes a transfer chamber chamber 314 having a sealable structure formed to have a substantially polygonal shape (hexagonal shape in the illustrated example) when viewed from above, for example. A wafer transfer mechanism 315 for transferring the wafer W is provided in the transfer chamber 314. The wafer transfer mechanism 315 has two transfer arms 315a and 315b that hold the wafer W substantially horizontally, and is configured to transfer the wafer W while holding the wafer W by either of the transfer arms 315a and 315b. .

  Etching devices 302 and 303, line width measuring devices 304 and 305, and load lock devices 313 b and 313 a are arranged outside the transfer chamber 314 so as to surround the transfer chamber 314. The etching devices 302 and 303, the line width measuring devices 304 and 305, and the load lock devices 313b and 313a are arranged in this order in the clockwise direction when viewed from above, for example, with respect to the six side portions of the transfer chamber 314. They are arranged so as to face each other.

  Next, the configuration of the line width measuring device 304 will be described. In the line width measuring device 304, as shown in FIG. 11, a mounting table 320 for mounting the wafer W horizontally and an optical surface shape measuring instrument 321 are provided. The mounting table 320 can move, for example, in a two-dimensional direction in the horizontal direction. The optical surface shape measuring instrument 321 includes a light irradiation unit 322 that irradiates light on the wafer W from an oblique direction, a light detection unit 323 that detects light irradiated from the light irradiation unit 322 and reflected by the wafer W, and A measurement unit 324 that calculates the line width of the pattern of the film to be processed on the wafer W based on the light reception information of the light detection unit 323 is provided. The line width measuring device 304 measures the line width of the pattern of the film to be processed by using, for example, a scatterometry method. In the measurement unit 324, the line width measuring device 304 detects the pattern in the wafer surface detected by the light detection unit 323. The pattern of the film to be processed is obtained by collating the light intensity distribution with the virtual light intensity distribution stored in advance and obtaining the line width of the pattern of the film to be processed corresponding to the collated virtual light intensity distribution. Can be measured. The measurement result of the pattern of the film to be processed is output to the control device 400 described later, for example.

Note that the line width measuring device 304 moves the wafer W relatively horizontally with respect to the light irradiation unit 322 and the light detection unit 323, so that a plurality of regions in the wafer surface, for example, each wafer W shown in FIG. The line width of the pattern of the film to be processed in the central portion W ₁ and the outer peripheral portion W ₂ can be measured.

  Note that the configuration of the line width measuring apparatus 305 is the same as that of the above-described line width measuring apparatus 304, and thus the description thereof is omitted.

  Next, the control device 400 that controls the supply of the developing solution or processing solution in the above-described developing processing devices 30 to 34 and the heating temperature in the PEB devices 74 to 79 will be described. The control device 400 is configured by a general-purpose computer including a CPU, a memory, and the like, for example.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the control device 400 includes, for example, an input unit 401 that receives line width measurement results from the line width measurement devices 304 and 305, and development processing devices 30 to 34 and PEB devices 74 to 74 based on the line width measurement results. A data storage unit 402 that stores various information necessary for calculating 79 processing conditions, and a program storage unit 403 that stores a program P for calculating the processing conditions of the development processing apparatuses 30 to 34 and the PEB apparatuses 74 to 79. And an arithmetic unit 404 that executes the program P to calculate processing conditions, an output unit 405 that outputs the calculated processing conditions to the development processing devices 30 to 34 and the PEB devices 74 to 79, and the like.

In the data storage unit 402, a first correlation M1 of the line width of the outer periphery of the pattern of the supply amount and the target film of the developing solution supplied to the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W in the current image processing device 30 to 34 Data is stored. Further, the data storage unit 402, a second correlation between the line width of the outer periphery of the pattern of the supply amount and the target film of the processing liquid supplied to the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W in the current image processing device 30 to 34 M2 Is stored. Further, as shown in FIG. 13 , the data storage unit 402 stores data indicating a third correlation M3 between the heating temperature in the PEB apparatuses 74 to 79 and the line width of the pattern of the film to be processed. The third correlation M3 is stored center ₁ of the wafer W, the thermal plate regions _R 1 of the outer peripheral portion _{W 2} and hot plate 210, each _{R 2.}

  The program P for realizing the functions of the control device 400 is, for example, a computer such as a computer-readable hard disk (HD), flexible disk (FD), compact disk (CD), magnetic optical desk (MO), or memory card. May be recorded in a readable storage medium and installed in the control device 400 from the storage medium.

Next, the processing process of the wafer W in the substrate processing system 1 configured as described above will be described together with the inspection processing of the inspection wafer T. FIG. 14 is a flowchart for explaining the inspection processing process of the inspection wafer T and the main processes of the wafer W. In the present embodiment, the central portion T ₁ and the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the inspection wafer T are in the same range as the central portion W ₁ and the outer peripheral portion W _{2 of} the wafer W described above.

  First, in order to correct the processing conditions of the development processing apparatuses 30 to 34 and the PEB apparatuses 74 to 79, a series of photographic processes are performed on the inspection wafer T in the coating and developing processing apparatus 2, and the inspection wafer T is processed. A resist pattern is formed on the film. Details of the photolithography process will be described in the process of the wafer W described later.

Thereafter, the inspection wafer T is transferred to the etching processing apparatus 3, and the processing target film of the inspection wafer T is etched using the resist pattern as a mask to form a pattern on the processing target film ( FIG. 14 ). Step S1). Thereafter, the inspection wafer T is transferred to the line width measuring device 304 in the etching processing apparatus 3.

The inspection wafer T carried into the line width measuring device 304 is mounted on the mounting table 320. Next, a predetermined portion of the inspection wafer T is irradiated with light from the light irradiation unit 322, and the reflected light is detected by the light detection unit 323. The line width of the pattern of the target film on the test wafer T in the measurement unit 324 is measured for each heart T ₁ and the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the respective test wafer T (step S2 in FIG. 14). The measurement result of the line width of the pattern of the film to be processed is output to the control device 400.

In the control device 400, the arithmetic unit 404 uses the third correlation M3 in the data storage unit 402 and the program P in the program storage unit 403 based on the line width measurement result of the pattern of the film to be processed on the inspection wafer T. The correction values for the heating plate regions R ₁ and R ₂ are calculated for the heating temperatures in the PEB devices 74 to 79 (step S3 in FIG. 14 ).

Further, the arithmetic unit 404, when the line width measurement result of the pattern of the target film is larger than the target line width of the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the test wafer T, the first correlation M1 and program storage in the data storage unit 402 using the program P parts 403, so that the supply amount of the developer supplied to the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W in the developing treatment unit 30 to 34 is increased, and calculates the correction value of the supply amount of the developer ( Step S4 in FIG .

Further, when the line width measurement result of the pattern of the film to be processed on the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the inspection wafer T is smaller than the target line width, the calculation unit 404 stores the second correlation M 2 in the data storage unit 402 and the program. using the program P parts 403, and calculates the supply amount of the outer peripheral portion _{W 2} to supply the processing solution on the wafer W after the development processing in the developing processing unit 30 to 34 (step S5 in FIG. 14).

  In addition, when the line width measurement result of the center part of the pattern of a to-be-processed part and an outer peripheral part is a target line width, the heating temperature of the PEB apparatuses 74-79 mentioned above is not correct | amended, and also the development processing apparatus 30 Also, the supply amount of the developer in .about.34 is not corrected. In other words, these processes are performed on the wafer W under the same conditions as the PEB process and the development process performed on the inspection wafer T.

  These calculated processing conditions are output from the output unit 405 to the development processing devices 30 to 34 and the PEB devices 94 to 99.

  Next, a series of wafer processing is performed on the product wafer W, for example. First, one wafer W is taken out from the cassette C on the cassette mounting table 14 by the wafer transfer body 16 and transferred to the temperature adjustment device 50 of the third processing unit group G3. The wafer W transferred to the temperature adjustment device 50 is adjusted to a predetermined temperature, and then transferred to the bottom coating device 23 by the first transfer device 17 to form an antireflection film. The wafer W on which the antireflection film is formed is sequentially transferred by the first transfer device 17 to the heating device 82, the high temperature heat treatment device 55, and the high precision temperature control device 60, and is subjected to a predetermined process in each device. Thereafter, the wafer W is transferred to the resist coating apparatus 20, and a resist film is formed on the wafer W.

  When a resist film is formed on the wafer W in the resist coating apparatus 20, the wafer W is transferred to the PAB apparatus 61 by the first transfer apparatus 17, and then the peripheral exposure apparatus 84 and the high accuracy are transferred by the second transfer apparatus 18. It is sequentially transported to the temperature control device 73, and predetermined processing is performed in each device. Thereafter, the wafer is transferred to the exposure device 12 by the wafer transfer body 91 of the interface station 13, and a predetermined pattern is exposed on the resist film on the wafer W. The wafer W for which the exposure processing has been completed is transferred to the PEB apparatus 74 by the wafer transfer body 91.

The wafer W transferred to the PEB apparatus 74 is transferred to the lift pins 220 that have been lifted and waited in advance. After the lid 200 is closed, the lift pins 220 are lowered and the wafer W is heated to the hot plate 210. Placed on top. At this time, each of the hot plate regions R ₁ and R ₂ of the hot plate 210 is heated to the heating temperature corrected in step S3 described above. The wafer W is heated to a predetermined temperature by the heated hot plate 210 for each of the central portion W ₁ and the outer peripheral portion W ₂ .

  When the heat treatment in the PEB apparatus 74 is completed, the wafer W is transferred to the high-accuracy temperature adjustment apparatus 71 by the second transfer apparatus 18 to adjust the temperature, and then transferred to the development processing apparatus 30.

The wafer W transferred to the development processing apparatus 30 is sucked and held by the spin chuck 110. Subsequently, the wafer W on the spin chuck 110 is rotated at a predetermined speed by the chuck driving mechanism 111. Simultaneously with the rotation of the wafer W, the first arm 121 moves the developing solution nozzle 124 of the standby unit 126 to above the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W.

Then, the developer is supplied from the developer nozzle 124 to the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W. At this time, when the line width measurement result at the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the inspection wafer T is larger than the target line width, the supply amount of the developer corrected by the control device 400 is applied to the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W. Supplied. Then, the supply amount of the developer is increased than the supply amount of the developing solution supplied to the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the test wafer T as described above. The supply amount of the developer to be supplied to the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W, or a faster feed rate of the developing solution supplied from the developer nozzle 124, or the moving speed of the developer nozzle 124 to be described later Controlled by slowing down.

On the other hand, when the line width measurement result of the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the inspection wafer T is smaller than the target line width, the supply amount of the developer supplied to the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W is the outer periphery of the inspection wafer T. it is supplied the same amount of the supplied developer section T _2.

Thereafter, the developer nozzle 124 supplies the developer onto the wafer W while moving to the center of the wafer W. Then, the developer supplied from the developer nozzle 124 as shown in FIG. 15 is supplied onto the wafer W in a spiral shape. Then, the developing solution is diffused over the entire surface of the wafer W to develop the wafer W.

When the development of the wafer W is completed, the first arm 121 moves the developer nozzle 124 from the upper center of the wafer W to the standby unit 126. At the same time, the pure water nozzle 130 of the standby unit 133 is moved above the center of the wafer W by the second arm 122. Thereafter, pure water from the pure water nozzle 130 is supplied to the central portion W ₁ of the wafer W, the cleaning process of the wafer W is performed.

Thereafter, the supply of pure water from the pure water nozzle 130 is stopped and moved to the standby unit 132, and the wafer W is accelerated and rotated to dry and remove the pure water P on the wafer W. Here, the line width measurement results of the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the test wafer T is when the target line width greater than the development of a series of the wafer W is completed.

On the other hand, when the line width measurement results of the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the test wafer T is smaller than the target line width is then further outer peripheral portion W of the wafer W to the processing liquid nozzle 137 of the waiting section 139 by a third arm 123 ₂ Move up. Subsequently, on the outer peripheral portion W ₂ from the processing liquid nozzle 137, the treatment liquid of the set supply amount control device 400 is supplied. Thereby, a treatment film having a predetermined film thickness is formed on the outer periphery of the resist pattern. Thus, a series of development processing of the wafer W is completed.

  By performing development processing on the wafer W as described above, the outer peripheral portion of the resist pattern on the wafer W can be formed with a predetermined line width.

When the development processing in the development processing device 30 is completed, the wafer W is transferred to the POST device 65 by the second transfer device 18 and subjected to heat treatment, and then transferred to the high-accuracy temperature adjustment device 73 to adjust the temperature. . Thereafter, the wafer W is transferred to the transition device 51 by the first transfer device 17 and returned to the cassette C by the wafer transfer body 16 to complete a series of photographic processes. That is, a resist pattern is formed on the wafer W (step S6 in FIG. 14 ).

  When the resist pattern is formed on the wafer W in the coating / developing apparatus 2, the cassette C containing the wafer W is unloaded from the coating / developing apparatus 2 and then loaded into the etching apparatus 3.

  In the etching processing apparatus 3, first, one wafer W is taken out from the cassette C on the cassette mounting table 312 by the wafer transfer mechanism 310 and loaded into the load lock apparatus 313a. When the wafer W is loaded into the load lock device 313a, the load lock device 313a is sealed and decompressed. Thereafter, the inside of the load lock device 313a and the inside of the transfer chamber chamber 314 in a state where the pressure is reduced with respect to the atmospheric pressure (for example, a substantially vacuum state) are communicated with each other. Then, the wafer transfer mechanism 315 unloads the wafer W from the load lock device 313a and loads it into the transfer chamber 314.

The wafer W loaded into the transfer chamber 314 is then transferred into the processing chamber 321 of the etching apparatus 302 by the wafer transfer mechanism 315, and the film to be processed on the wafer W is etched. Thereafter, the resist pattern and the antireflection film are removed, and a predetermined pattern is formed on the film to be processed (step S7 in FIG. 14 ) .

  Thereafter, the wafer is returned to the transfer chamber 314 by the wafer transfer mechanism 315 again. Then, the wafer is transferred to the wafer transfer mechanism 310 via the load lock device 313b and stored in the cassette C. Thereafter, the cassette C containing the wafers W is unloaded from the etching processing apparatus 3 and a series of wafer processing ends.

According to the above embodiment, when the line width of the pattern of the target film is greater than the predetermined target line width at the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the test wafer T measured by the line-width measuring device 304, developing process in the apparatus 30, since increasing the supply amount of the developer supplied to the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W, it is possible to reduce the line width of the outer peripheral portion of a resist pattern formed on the wafer W. Further, when the line width of the pattern of the film to be processed in the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the inspection wafer T is smaller than the predetermined target line width, the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W is developed after the development processing by the development processing device 30. Since the processing liquid having etching resistance is supplied, a thin processing film is formed on the outer peripheral portion of the resist pattern formed on the wafer W, and the line width of the outer peripheral portion can be increased. Then, the wafer W is etched using the resist pattern whose outer peripheral line width is adjusted in this way as a mask, and a pattern is formed on the film to be processed. Therefore, the outer peripheral line width of the pattern is set to the target line width. Can be. Therefore, the line width of the pattern of the film to be processed can be made uniform within the wafer surface.

Further, in the present embodiment, based on the line width of the pattern of the target film of the test wafer T measured by the line-width measuring device 304, thermal plate regions R ₁ and the heating temperature in the PEB unit 74 to _79, R _{Since the} correction is performed every _two , the wafer W can be heated for each of the central portion W ₁ and the outer peripheral portion W ₂ . Then, it is possible to approach the target dimensions the line width of the pattern formed on the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W to a certain extent. As a result, the pattern of the film to be processed can be made more uniform on the wafer surface with higher accuracy. Further, the developing device 30, can be suppressed to a small amount of the supply amount of the developer or processing solution supplying additional to the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W.

In the above embodiment, when the line width measurement result of the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the inspection wafer T is larger than the target line width, the control device 400 applies the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W during the developing process of the wafer W. A set amount of developer was supplied. In contrast, for example, in the case where a still developing the wafer W after completion of the development process, i.e. after the cleaning process of the wafer W, developing the supply amount set by the controller 400 to the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W A liquid may be supplied.

Further, in the above embodiment, when the line width measurement result of the outer peripheral portion T ₂ of the inspection wafer T is smaller than the target line width, the control device is attached to the outer peripheral portion W ₂ of the wafer W after the cleaning process of the wafer W. The supply amount of processing liquid set at 400 was supplied. On the other hand, if the processing solution is a material that is insoluble in the developing solution, the supply amount of the processing solution set by the control device 400 may be supplied before the wafer W is cleaned.

  In the above embodiment, the processing nozzle 137 for supplying the processing liquid is provided in each of the development processing apparatuses 30 to 34. However, another processing apparatus is disposed in the coating and developing processing apparatus 2 to perform the processing. A processing nozzle 137 may be provided in the apparatus. In this case, the processing apparatus has substantially the same configuration as the development processing apparatuses 30 to 34 described above, and a processing nozzle 137 is provided instead of the developer nozzle 124 and the pure water nozzle 130.

  Further, although the line width measuring devices 304 and 305 are arranged in the etching processing device 3, they may be provided independently outside the etching processing device 3.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to such examples. It is obvious for those skilled in the art that various modifications or modifications can be conceived within the scope of the idea described in the claims, and these naturally belong to the technical scope of the present invention. It is understood. The present invention is not limited to this example and can take various forms. The present invention can also be applied to a case where the substrate is another substrate such as an FPD (flat panel display) other than a wafer or a mask reticle for a photomask.

  The present invention is useful when performing a photolithography process and an etching process on a substrate on which a film to be processed is formed to form a predetermined pattern on the film to be processed.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Substrate processing system 2 Coating development processing apparatus 3 Etching processing apparatus 30-34 Development processing apparatus 74-79 PEB apparatus 124 Developer nozzle 130 Pure water nozzle 137 Processing liquid nozzle 210 Heat plate 304, 305 Line width measuring apparatus 400 Control apparatus M1 first correlation M2 second correlation M3 third correlation P program R _{1, R 2} for the thermal plate regions T test wafer T ₁ heart T ₂ peripheral portion W wafer W ₁ center W ₂ outer peripheral portion

Claims (6)

A substrate processing method of performing a photolithography process and an etching process on a substrate on which a processing target film is formed, and forming a predetermined pattern on the processing target film,
After forming a pattern on the film to be processed on the substrate, a line width measuring step for measuring the line width of the outer peripheral portion of the pattern of the film to be processed;
When the line width measured in the line width measuring step is larger than a predetermined target line width, the amount of the developer supplied to the outer peripheral portion of the substrate is increased in the development process of the photolithography process, or the line If the measured line width width measuring step is smaller than a predetermined target line width after development of the photolithography process, it has a resistance to etching the outer peripheral portion of the substrate, and insoluble to the developer solution A correction step of supplying the processing liquid having,
A photolithography process is performed on the substrate based on the conditions of the correction process, a resist pattern is formed on the film to be processed, an etching process is performed on the substrate using the resist pattern as a mask, and a predetermined pattern is formed on the film to be processed. A method for processing a substrate, comprising: forming a substrate. In the line width measurement step, measure the line width other than the outer peripheral portion of the pattern of the film to be processed,
In the correction step, based on the line width of the outer peripheral portion measured in the line width measuring step and the line width other than the outer peripheral portion, a heat treatment performed after the exposure process during the photolithography process and before the development process The method for processing a substrate according to claim 1, wherein the heating temperature at the outer peripheral portion of the substrate and the heating temperature other than at the outer peripheral portion of the substrate are individually corrected. The substrate processing method according to claim 1 or 2 for execution by the substrate processing system, a program running on a computer of a control device for controlling the substrate processing system. A readable computer storage medium storing the program according to claim 3 . A substrate processing system that performs a photolithography process and an etching process on a substrate on which a processing target film is formed, and forms a predetermined pattern on the processing target film,
A coating and developing apparatus for performing a photolithography process on a substrate;
An etching apparatus for performing an etching process on a substrate;
A line width measuring device for measuring the line width of the outer peripheral portion of the pattern of the film to be processed;
When the line width measured by the line width measuring device is larger than a predetermined target line width, the supply amount of the developer supplied to the outer peripheral portion of the substrate is increased in the development processing performed by the coating and developing processing device. or if the measured line width by the line width measuring device is smaller than a predetermined target line width after the development processing performed in the coating and developing apparatus, it has a resistance to etching the outer peripheral portion of the substrate, And a control device for supplying a processing solution that is insoluble in the developing solution . The line width measuring device measures a line width other than the outer peripheral portion of the pattern of the film to be processed,
The control device individually corrects the heating temperature of the outer peripheral portion of the substrate and the heating temperature other than the outer peripheral portion of the substrate in the heating processing after the exposure processing and before the developing processing performed in the coating and developing processing apparatus. The substrate processing system according to claim 5 , wherein:

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