JP6540089B2 - Pattern forming method, pattern forming apparatus and program for pattern formation - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method of forming a desired pattern using an imprint method, a pattern forming apparatus, and a program for forming a pattern.

  In recent years, as a pattern forming technology replacing the photolithography technology, a pattern forming technology using an imprint method and a lithography technology have attracted attention. The imprinting method uses a mold member (mold) having a fine concavo-convex structure, and transfers the concavo-convex structure of the mold to a material to be transferred to form a desired pattern (a figure consisting of a concavo-convex structure such as a line or a pattern) And / or a pattern forming technique for transferring a fine structure such as a smooth surface having no pattern at the same magnification. For example, in a pattern forming method using a photocurable resin composition as a material to be transferred, droplets of the photocurable resin composition are supplied to the surface of a transfer substrate, and a mold having a desired uneven structure and a transfer substrate are obtained. The photocurable resin composition is filled in the concavo-convex structure by bringing it close to a predetermined distance, and light is irradiated from the mold side in this state to cure the photocurable resin composition to form a resin layer, and then, By separating the mold from the resin layer, a pattern structure having a concavo-convex structure (concave-convex pattern) in which the concavities and convexities included in the mold are reversed is formed. In such a pattern formation method, it is important that the concavo-convex structure of the mold be completely filled with the material to be transferred, and when air bubbles are confined in the concave part of the concavo-convex structure of the mold, the air bubbles form a microstructure pattern Cause defects in

For this reason, for example, when using a mold having a recess and bringing the concavo-convex structure of the mold and the material to be transferred close to each other, the recess is curved to make contact from the center of the mold. It has been proposed to prevent the confinement of air bubbles by pushing the gas toward the head (Patent Document 1).
Further, in the transfer substrate, a circumscribed pattern consisting of a line-shaped uneven pattern is provided in advance around the entire area of the transferred region to which the uneven structure of the mold is transferred, and when droplets of the transferred material are supplied to the transfer substrate. It has been proposed to use a transfer substrate such that droplets in the transfer region become relatively high by utilizing the fact that droplets supplied on the circumscribed pattern wet and spread in the line direction (Patent Document 2). ). By using such a transfer substrate, when the mold and the material to be transferred are brought close to each other, the droplet of the material to be transferred supplied to the region to be transferred contacts the mold without bending the mold. Is started earlier, and the contact between the droplet of the material to be transferred supplied to the circumscribed pattern and the mold is delayed and started to prevent the bubble from being trapped.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-536591 JP, 2013-222791, A

However, in the method described in Patent Document 1, in order to bring the mold into contact with the material to be transferred in a curved state, a mold having a bendable structure and a dedicated imprint apparatus are required, and the pattern formation cost is increased. Had the problem of In addition, bending the mold may cause distortion in the concavo-convex structure, which may hinder the high precision of the formed pattern.
In addition, the method described in Patent Document 2 requires the step of forming a circumscribed pattern consisting of a line-shaped concavo-convex pattern, and, depending on the product design, a circumscribed pattern located all around the transfer region of the transfer substrate. There was a problem that the existence of was unacceptable.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and is capable of suppressing the confinement of air bubbles in the concavo-convex structure of a mold, and capable of forming a stable pattern using an imprint method. Another object of the present invention is to provide a patterning device using such a patterning method, and a patterning program for driving the patterning device.

In order to achieve such an object, according to the pattern forming method of the present invention, a mold having an uneven structure is brought into contact with droplets of a transfer target material disposed in a transfer target region of a transfer substrate. A pattern forming method for forming a pattern, comprising: a unit transfer area defining step of defining the transfer target area of the transfer substrate into a plurality of unit transfer areas; and the transfer target material necessary for each of the plurality of unit transfer areas. Of determining the amount of transfer material, the number of drops determination of determining the total number of drops of the transfer material to be dropped to each of the plurality of unit transfer regions, and each of the plurality of unit transfer regions A contact order determination step of determining the first to N-th (N is an integer of 2 or more) for each unit transfer area, and the contact order in which the droplet and the mold are placed in contact is determined; Droplet supply position and number determining step of determining the supply position of the transfer target material to be dropped to each of a plurality of unit transfer areas and the number of times of supply for dropping the transfer target material to each supply position; according supply position and supplying the number of the material to be transferred, which is determined by the position and number determination step, the droplet supplying step of forming the droplet by dropping the object transfer materials to the transfer target region of the transfer substrate When the mold and contacting the droplets, thereby forming a material layer to be transferred to expand the droplet during the transfer substrate and the molding de by approaching the mold and the transfer board a contact step, wherein includes a curing step of curing the material layer to be transferred, a releasing step for detachment of the material layer to be transferred and the molding de cured, the droplet supplying position and times In the determination step, the K-th contact sequence (K is 1) such that the number of drips of the material to be transferred dropped to each of the supply positions of the N-th unit transfer area in the contact sequence is minimized. The volume of one of the droplets disposed in the unit transfer area of an integer of to (N-1) is larger than the volume of one of the droplets disposed in the (K + 1) th unit transfer area So that the volume of one droplet in the unit transfer area having the same contact order is the same, the N-th to the first in the unit transfer area It was configured to determine the supply position and the number of supplies of the material .

As another aspect of the present invention, in the unit transfer area defining step, when the minimum supply pitch of the material to be transferred is P, it is α times (α is 1 or more) the area of a square of P on one side An area having a rectangular outer peripheral shape is set as the unit transfer area.
As another aspect of the present invention, in the contact order determination step, the (K + 1) th unit transfer area in the contact order is positioned outside the Kth unit transfer area. It was configured to determine the contact order .
As another aspect of the present invention, in the step of determining the amount of transferred material , the volume of the concave portion of the concavo-convex structure present in the region of the mold corresponding to each of the plurality of unit transfer regions , the mold and the transfer substrate The amount of the material to be transferred is determined based on the design value of the thickness of the remaining film produced in the meantime and the volume which is the product of the value of the area of the unit transfer area .
Another aspect of the present invention, the in the transferred material amount determination step performs the correction from being disposed in each based on the volatilization amount of the droplet into contact with the mold of the plurality of unit transfer area the The configuration is such that the amount of material to be transferred is determined.

As another aspect of the present invention, in the droplet supply position and number-of-times determining step, the contact order is determined after making the volume of the one transfer material to be transferred dropped onto the transfer region of the transfer substrate constant. The number of times of dispensing the material to be transferred to each of the supply positions in the Kth unit transfer area is greater than the number of times of dispensing the material to be transferred to each of the (K + 1) th supply positions. The supply position and the number of times of supply are determined to increase.
The pattern forming method according to the present invention is a pattern forming method in which a pattern having a concavo-convex structure is brought into contact with droplets of a transferred material disposed in a transferred region of a transfer substrate to form a pattern on the transfer substrate. A unit transfer area demarcating step of demarcating the transfer target area of the transfer substrate into a plurality of unit transfer areas; a transfer material amount determining step of determining an amount of the transfer target material required for each of the plurality of unit transfer areas; A step of determining the number of drops of the transfer material dropped onto each of the plurality of unit transfer areas, and the droplet and the mold being placed on each of the plurality of unit transfer areas. Contact order determining step of determining first to Nth (N is an integer of 2 or more) for each of the unit transfer areas, and the plurality of unit transfer areas. Droplet supply position and number determining step for determining the supply position of the transferred material to be transferred and the number of times of supply for dropping the transferred material to each of the supply positions, and determined by the droplet supply position and number determination step A droplet supplying step of forming the droplets by dropping the material to be transferred on the transfer target area of the transfer substrate according to the supply position and the number of times of supply of the material to be transferred, the mold and the transfer substrate Bringing the mold and the droplet into contact by bringing them close to each other, thereby spreading the droplet between the transfer substrate and the mold to form a transferred material layer, and curing the transferred material layer And a mold release process for separating the cured transfer material layer and the mold. In the unit transfer area definition process, the minimum size of the transfer material is determined. When feeding pitch is P, one side has a structure such as a alpha times the area of the square P (alpha 1 or more) of the outer peripheral shape to set a region which is a rectangular as the unit transfer area.

Pattern forming apparatus of the present invention comprises contacting a mall-de with a droplet uneven structure of the transferred material disposed on the transfer area of the transfer substrate, the droplet between Thereby the mold and the transfer substrate Is developed to form a transferred material layer, and after curing the transferred material layer, the pattern forming apparatus forms a pattern by performing separation with the mold, and a mold for holding the mold A holding unit, a substrate holding unit for holding the transfer substrate, a droplet supply unit for forming the droplets by dropping the material to be transferred onto the transfer substrate, and at least the droplet supply Control unit configured to control a unit, wherein the control unit defines the transfer target region of the transfer substrate in a plurality of unit transfer regions, and the droplets are disposed in each of the plurality of unit transfer regions And before The contact order with which the mold contacts is determined from the first to the Nth (N is an integer of 2 or more) for each unit transfer area, and each supply position of the Nth unit transfer area with the contact order The contact sequence is the K-th (K is an integer of 1 to (N-1)) unit transfer areas of the unit transfer area so as to minimize the number of drops of the material to be transferred to the One of the liquids in the unit transfer area having the same contact order so that the volume of the droplet is larger than the volume of one of the droplets arranged in the (K + 1) th unit transfer area The supply position and the number of times of supply of the material to be transferred in the unit transfer area are determined in order from the Nth to the first so that the volumes of the drops become the same, and the transfer position and the number of times of supply control the droplet supply unit to dripping material It was configured such that.

The program for pattern formation of the present invention determines a unit transfer area defining step of defining a transfer target area of a transfer substrate into a plurality of unit transfer areas, and determines an amount of transfer material required for each of the plurality of unit transfer areas. and the transfer material amount determination step, the dropping number determination step of determining the total number of drops of material to be transferred is dropped into each of the plurality of unit transfer area, the object is disposed in each of said plurality of unit transfer area A contact order determining step of determining first to N-th (N is an integer of 2 or more) for each of the unit transfer areas, and a contact order determining step for contacting the droplets of the transfer material and the mold; possess a said droplet supplying position and the number determining step determines the supply number of times of dropping the transfer material supply position and the respective supply position of the material to be transferred is dropped into each In the droplet supply position and number-of-times determining step, the contact order is such that the number of drops of the transfer material to be dropped to each of the supply positions of the Nth unit transfer area is minimized. A volume of one of the droplets disposed in the Kth (K is an integer of 1 to (N-1)) unit transfer regions is one in which the volume of one droplet is disposed in the (K + 1) th unit transfer region The Nth to the first in order so that the volume of one droplet in the unit transfer area having the same contact order is the same so as to be larger than the volume of the droplet. characterized by determining the feed position and the supply times of the material to be transferred in the unit transfer area, and a configuration as to operate on a computer of the control unit for controlling the above-described pattern forming apparatus.

As another aspect of the present invention, in the unit transfer area defining step, when the minimum supply pitch of the material to be transferred is P, the area is α times the area of the square of P (α is 1 or more). An area having a rectangular outer peripheral shape is set as the unit transfer area.

The program for pattern formation of the present invention determines a unit transfer area defining step of defining a transfer target area of a transfer substrate into a plurality of unit transfer areas, and determines an amount of transfer material required for each of the plurality of unit transfer areas. A transfer material amount determination step, a drop number determination step of determining a total drop number of transfer material to be dropped in each of the plurality of unit transfer regions, and the transfer destination disposed in each of the plurality of unit transfer regions A contact order determining step of determining first to N-th (N is an integer of 2 or more) for each of the unit transfer areas, and a contact order determining step for contacting the droplets of the transfer material and the mold; A supply position of the transfer material to be dropped onto each of the plurality of droplets, and a droplet supply position and number determination step of determining the number of times of supply for dropping the transfer material onto the respective supply positions. In the unit transfer area defining step, when the minimum supply pitch of the material to be transferred is P, an area which is α times (α is 1 or more) an area of a square of P side and whose outer peripheral shape is rectangular The mold is set as the unit transfer region, and the mold having a concavo-convex structure is brought into contact with the droplets of the transfer target material disposed in the transfer target region of the transfer substrate, whereby the transfer substrate and the mold And a pattern forming apparatus for forming a pattern by forming the material to be transferred layer by developing the droplets between the layers and curing the layer to be transferred, and separating the material layer from the mold. A mold holding unit for holding a mold, a substrate holding unit for holding the transfer substrate, and a droplet for forming the droplet by dropping the material to be transferred onto the transfer substrate A feed unit and the transfer target region of the transfer substrate are defined in a plurality of unit transfer regions, and the order of contact with which the droplet and the mold are placed in each of the plurality of unit transfer regions is the unit transfer The first to Nth (N is an integer of 2 or more) are determined for each region, and the volume of one droplet in the unit transfer region having the same contact order is the same, and The volume of one of the droplets disposed in the Kth (K is an integer from 1 to (N-1)) unit transfer region in contact order is disposed in the (K + 1) th unit transfer region The supply position and the number of times of supply of the material to be transferred in the unit transfer area are determined so as to be larger than the volume of one droplet, and at least the material to be transferred is dropped at the supply position and number of times of supply. Control the droplet supply unit Was such that operational configuration on the controller of the computer that controls the patterning device and a control unit.

As another aspect of the present invention, in the contact order determination step, the (K + 1) th unit transfer area in the contact order is positioned outside the Kth unit transfer area. It was configured to determine the contact order.

  According to the present invention, the confinement of air bubbles in the concavo-convex structure of the mold in pattern formation using the imprint method can be easily suppressed, and stable pattern formation is possible.

FIG. 1 is a partial plan view for explaining an example of a contact area defined in a transfer target area of a transfer substrate in the pattern forming method of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of the droplet supply of the transfer material to the contact area of each rank defined as shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 2 (A) is a plan view, FIG. 2 (B). Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line I-I of Fig. 2 (A). FIG. 3 is a figure for demonstrating the contact process in the pattern formation method of this invention. FIG. 4 is a partial plan view corresponding to FIG. 2 (A) showing the state shown in FIG. 3 (B). FIG. 5 is a partial plan view corresponding to FIG. 2 (A) showing the state shown in FIG. 3 (C). FIG. 6 is a partial plan view for explaining another example of the contact area defined in the transfer receiving area of the transfer substrate in the patterning method of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a view showing an example of droplet supply of the transfer material to the contact area of each rank defined as shown in FIG. 6, and FIG. 7 (A) is a plan view, FIG. 7 (B). Fig. 7 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line II-II of Fig. 7A. FIG. 8 is a figure for demonstrating the contact process in the pattern formation method of this invention. FIG. 9 is a partial plan view equivalent to FIG. 7 (A) showing the state shown in FIG. 8 (B). FIG. 10 is a partial plan view equivalent to FIG. 7 (A) showing the state shown in FIG. 8 (C). FIG. 11 is a partial plan view for explaining another example of the contact area defined in the transfer target area of the transfer substrate in the patterning method of the present invention. FIG. 12 is a partial plan view for explaining another example of the contact area defined in the transfer target area of the transfer substrate in the patterning method of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of an embodiment of the patterning device of the present invention. FIG. 14 is a schematic plan view of the patterning device shown in FIG. FIG. 15 is a flow chart showing an example of the pattern formation program of the present invention for controlling the droplet supply unit in the control unit of the pattern formation apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 16 is a partial plan view for explaining the program for pattern formation of the present invention, taking the transfer substrate shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 as an example. FIG. 17 is a partial plan view for explaining the program for pattern formation of the present invention, taking the transfer substrate shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 as an example. FIG. 18 is a partial plan view for explaining the program for pattern formation of the present invention, taking the transfer substrate shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 as an example. FIG. 19 is a partial plan view for explaining the program for pattern formation of the present invention, taking the transfer substrate shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 as an example. FIG. 20 is a partial plan view for explaining the program for pattern formation of the present invention, taking the transfer substrate shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 as an example. FIG. 21 is a partial plan view for explaining the program for pattern formation of the present invention, taking the transfer substrate shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 as an example. FIG. 22 is a partial plan view showing a transferred region set on a transfer substrate in the embodiment and a contact region defined in the transferred region. FIG. 23 is a view showing the state of the photocurable resist developed between the transfer substrate and the mold in the example.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The drawings are schematic or conceptual, and the dimensions of the respective members, the ratio of the sizes among the members, and the like are not necessarily the same as the actual ones, and are the same members or the like. Even in some cases, the dimensions and ratios may differ depending on the drawings.

[Pattern formation method]
In the pattern forming method of the present invention, a droplet supplying step of supplying droplets of a material to be transferred to a region to be transferred of a transfer substrate, a mold having a concavo-convex structure and a transfer substrate are brought close to each other. A contact step of bringing a droplet into contact between the transfer substrate and the mold to form a transferred material layer, a curing step of curing the transferred material layer, and a cured transferred material layer It has a mold release process which performs separation with a mold.
In the pattern forming method of the present invention, the transfer substrate of the transfer substrate to be used has a first to Nth order (where N is an integer of 2 or more) in which the droplet and the mold come into contact with each other. Defining the contact area defining step up to N types of contact areas).

One embodiment of the pattern formation method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.
FIG. 1 is a partial plan view for illustrating a contact area defined in a transfer target area of a transfer substrate in the case of N = 2. In FIG. 1, a square to-be-transferred area 12 (the outer periphery is shown by a two-dot chain line) is set on one flat surface 11 a of the transfer substrate 11. Two types of contact areas are defined: a contact area A1 (the outer periphery is indicated by an alternate long and short dashed line) having a first order of contact with the mold and a contact area A2 having a second order of contact. . As shown in the drawing, the contact area A2 which is the second in the order of contact is located outside the contact area A1 which is the first in the order of contact. The planar view shape, area, and position of the first contact area A1 and the second contact area A2 having such a contact order are, for example, the distance from the contact area to the outer periphery of the transferred area 12, the mold and the transfer substrate The direction, speed, etc. of the wetting and spreading of the droplet in the gap with the point 11 can be defined as an index. The direction and speed of wetting and spreading of droplets in the gap between the mold and the transfer substrate 11 are, for example, the shape of the pattern of the concavo-convex structure of the mold (eg, line / space shape, dot shape, hole shape, etc.), dimension of the pattern It can be examined in consideration of (for example, the depth and width of the recess, etc.), the wettability of the material to be transferred used, the material of the transfer substrate and mold, and the surface condition.

  The material of the transfer substrate 11 used is, for example, glass such as quartz, soda lime glass, borosilicate glass, etc., resin substrate such as polycarbonate, polypropylene, polyethylene or the like, or a composite substrate made of any combination of these materials. You may Further, for example, a desired pattern structure such as a fine wiring used for a semiconductor, a display or the like, a photonic crystal structure, an optical waveguide, an optical structure such as holography, or the like may be formed.

Next, in the droplet supply step in the pattern formation method of the present invention, the contact area A1 having the first contact order defined in the contact area definition process described above, and the contact area A2 having the second contact order In the above, each determines the amount of transferred material that needs to be supplied. The transferred material amount is determined by the volume of the concave portion of the concavo-convex structure present in the area of the mold corresponding to the target contact area, the setting value of the thickness of the residual film generated between the mold and the transfer substrate 11, and the contact area. And the volume which is the product of the value of the area of For example, the volume of the concave portion of the concavo-convex structure present in the area of the mold corresponding to the contact area A1 is V1 _M , and the setting value of the thickness of the residual film generated between the mold and the transfer substrate 11 and the area of the contact area A1 When the volume which is the product of the value of V.sub.1 _G is V.sub.1 _G , the sum of the two (V.sub.1 _M + V.sub.1 _G ) can be supplied to the contact area A1. Similarly, the volume V2 _M of the concave portion of the concavo-convex structure present in the area of the mold corresponding to the contact area A2, the setting value of the thickness of the residual film generated between the mold and the transfer substrate 11, and the area of the contact area A2 The sum (V2 _M + V2 _G ) with the volume V2 _G , which is the product of the value and the value, can be used as the transfer material amount supplied to the contact area A2. Furthermore, the amount of volatilization from the droplets from the supply as droplets to the transfer region 12 to contact with the mold is supplied to the contact region A2, the amount of transfer material supplied to the contact region A1 determined as described above A correction may be made to the amount of transferred material to determine the final amount of transferred material.

FIG. 2 shows the contact area A1 having the first order of contact defined as shown in FIG. 1 and the droplet supply of the material to be transferred onto the contact area A2 having the second order of contact. It is a figure which shows an example, FIG. 2 (A) is a top view, FIG. 2 (B) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view in the II line of FIG. 2 (A). In FIG. 2, the case where the amount of transferred material per unit area is the same in the contact area A1 and the contact area A2 is taken as an example. In the example shown in FIG. 2A, the area of one region surrounded by a chain line is a unit area, the contact area A1 is composed of four unit areas, and the contact area A2 is composed of 32 unit areas. Example.
In the droplet supply step, the first to N-th order in which the droplet and the mold come in contact with each other is determined based on the contact area A1 determined as described above and the transfer target material amount required to be supplied to the contact area A2. In the N contact areas up to, the volume of one droplet in the contact areas having the same order of contact is the same, and the order is the K-th (K is an integer of 1 to (N-1)) The droplet of the material to be transferred is supplied such that the volume of one droplet in the contact area is larger than the volume of one droplet in the (K + 1) th contact area. Here, "a droplet" is a droplet that is independent of other droplets.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, by supplying droplets of the material to be transferred from an inkjet head (not shown), the plurality of droplets 21a are formed in a uniform arrangement in the contact area A1, and the contact area A plurality of droplets 21b are formed on A2 in a uniform arrangement. In addition, in FIG. 2, in order to avoid that a drawing becomes complicated, the droplet 21b is shown in a part of unit area in 32 unit areas of contact area A2.
The droplets 21a formed in the contact area A1 are one droplet in the contact area A1, and each droplet 21a has the same volume. Further, the droplets 21b formed in the contact area A2 are one droplet in the contact area A2, and each droplet 21b has the same volume. Furthermore, the volume of one droplet 21a formed in the contact area A1 is approximately an integral multiple of the volume of one droplet 21b formed in the contact area A2. As described above, FIG. 2 exemplifies the case where the amount of material to be transferred per unit area is the same in the contact area A1 and the contact area A2, and in FIG. The volume of the droplet 21a is 16 times the volume of one droplet 21b. Therefore, while one droplet 21a is supplied to the contact area A1, 16 droplets 21b are supplied to the contact area A2. In FIG. 2, although the uniform arrangement of the droplets 21 a and the droplets 21 b is the arrangement located at the intersection of the square lattice, the uniform arrangement is not limited to this, for example, a predetermined arrangement The arrangement may be such that it is hexagonal closest to the pitch.

In the droplet supplying step of the pattern forming method of the present invention, the volume of one droplet of the transferred material supplied to the transferred region 12 of the transfer substrate 11 is made constant, and the order of contact between the droplet and the mold is The number of droplet supply for forming one droplet in the Kth (K is an integer from 1 to (N-1) contact region forms one droplet in the (K + 1) th contact region It is preferable to make it more than the number of times of droplet supply. Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 2, the volume of one droplet ejected from the inkjet head is constant, and the volume of x droplets (x is an integer of 1 or more) is one droplet 21 b. In order to form one droplet 21b in the contact area A2, x droplets are supplied to the same position. Further, in order to form one droplet 21 a in the contact area A 1, 16 times as many droplets as x droplets are supplied to the same place. Of course, supplying droplets from the ink jet head to the same position means supplying liquid droplets to the same coordinates on the same coordinates, but in the present invention, a pattern forming apparatus including the ink jet head is used. It also allows for errors in the drive control of the
By supplying the droplets of the material to be transferred to the contact area A1 and the contact area A2 in this manner, the height h1 of one droplet 21a in the contact area A1 is the height of one droplet 21b in the contact area A2. It is larger than h2.

In the contact step in the pattern formation method of the present invention, the mold and the transfer substrate are brought close to each other by bringing the mold and the transfer substrate into contact with each other, thereby spreading the droplet between the transfer substrate and the mold. A transfer material layer is formed. FIG. 3 is a figure for demonstrating the contact process in the pattern formation method of this invention. In addition, the uneven structure with which a mold is equipped is abbreviate | omitted in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, by bringing the mold 1 and the transfer substrate 11 close to each other so that the gap G is smaller than the height h1 of one droplet 21a in the contact area A1, the droplet 21a is first molded Contact with 1 (Fig. 3 (A)). Further, the gap G is reduced by bringing the mold 1 and the transfer substrate 11 into proximity with each other, whereby the droplet 21a supplied to the contact area A1 is crushed (FIG. 3B). FIG. 4 is a plane equivalent to FIG. 2 (A) showing this state, and the mold is omitted.

  Further, the gap G is reduced by bringing the mold 1 and the transfer substrate 11 close to each other, whereby the droplet 21a is developed in the contact area A1 by the capillary force acting in the gap between the mold 1 and the transfer substrate 11 Filling of droplets into the concavo-convex structure 1 is performed (FIG. 3C). FIG. 5 is a plane equivalent to FIG. 2 (A) showing this state, and the mold is omitted. In FIG. 5, the transfer material layer 21 which is being formed by the development of the droplets is indicated by hatching. Then, when the mold 1 and the transfer substrate 11 approach to a predetermined position where the gap G is smaller than the height h 2 of one droplet 21 b in the contact area A 2, the droplet 21 b contacts the mold 1, Filling of the droplets into the concavo-convex structure of the mold 1 in the contact area A2 is performed, and a transferred material layer 21 is formed between the transfer substrate 11 and the mold 1 (FIG. 3 (D)). In the development of droplets between the transfer substrate 11 and the mold 1 as described above, even if bubbles are present, the bubbles are transferred to the transfer target region 12 by the development of droplets from the contact area A1 to the contact area A2. It is conveyed in the peripheral direction, and is expelled from the transferred area 12 as the droplet development in the contact area A2 is completed.

  The mold 1 to be used may be provided with a concavo-convex structure corresponding to a pattern to be formed by imprinting. Further, as the material of the mold 1, when the material to be transferred is photocurable, a material capable of transmitting the irradiation light for curing these can be used. For example, quartz glass, silica glass In addition to glasses such as calcium fluoride, magnesium fluoride and acrylic glass, sapphire and gallium nitride, resins such as polycarbonate, polystyrene, acrylic and polypropylene, or any laminate thereof can be used. If the material to be transferred is not photocurable, or if the light for curing the material to be transferred can be irradiated from the side of the transfer substrate 11, the mold 1 does not have light transparency. In addition to the above materials, for example, metals such as silicon, nickel, titanium, aluminum and their alloys, oxides, nitrides, carbon materials such as DLC (diamond like carbon), or any laminate thereof Materials can be used.

In the curing step in the pattern formation method of the present invention, the transferred material layer 21 is cured. In this curing step, if the material to be transferred is a photocurable resin, the material to be transferred 21 can be cured by irradiating light from the mold 1 side. When the transfer substrate 11 is made of a light transmitting material, light may be irradiated from the transfer substrate 11 side, or light may be irradiated from both sides of the transfer substrate 11 and the mold 1. On the other hand, if the material to be transferred used is a thermosetting resin, the material to be transferred 21 can be cured by heat treatment.
In the mold release step in the pattern formation method of the present invention, pattern formation is completed in a state where the cured transfer material layer 21 and the mold 1 are separated and the pattern structure is positioned on the transfer substrate 11. Alternatively, the transfer substrate 11 may be formed on the transfer substrate 11 by reversing the concavo-convex structure of the mold 1 by etching the transfer substrate 11 through the pattern structure formed as described above. Furthermore, in the present invention, the transfer substrate 11 on which the pattern structure is formed by etching as described above can be used as a replica mold, and as described above, pattern formation with a concavo-convex structure can be performed.

Next, another embodiment of the pattern forming method of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 6 is a partial plan view for explaining another example of the contact area defined in the transfer target area of the transfer substrate in the contact area definition step of the patterning method of the present invention, where N = 2 It is said that. In FIG. 6, in the square transfer target region 42 (the outer periphery is indicated by a two-dot chain line) set on one flat surface 41a of the transfer substrate 41, the order of contact of the droplet and the mold is the first. Two types of contact areas, that is, the contact area A1 (the outer circumference is indicated by an alternate long and short dashed line) and the contact area A2 having a second contact order are defined. As shown in the drawing, the contact area A2 which is the second in the order of contact is located outside the contact area A1 which is the first in the order of contact. The definition of the contact area A1 and the contact area A2 different in the order of contact between the droplet and the mold is, for example, the distance from the contact area to the outer periphery of the transferred area 42, as in the example shown in FIG. The direction, the speed, and the like of the wetting and spreading of the droplets in the gap between the ink and the transfer substrate 41 can be used as an index.
The material of the transfer substrate 41 to be used can be the same as the material of the transfer substrate 11 described above.

  Next, in the droplet supply step, in the contact area A1 having the first order of contact and the contact area A2 having the second order of contact, the amount of transferred material that needs to be supplied is determined. The determination of the amount of material to be transferred can be performed in the same manner as in the above-described embodiment. In the example shown in FIG. 6 described above, the case where the amount of transferred material required to be supplied per unit area of the contact area is different in the contact area of the same contact order is taken as an example. That is, the contact area A1 is divided into a contact area A1-1 in which the required amount of transferred material per unit area is large and a contact area A1-2 in which the required amount of transferred material per unit area is small. The amount of transferred material in the contact area A1-1 is set to four times the amount of transferred material in the contact area A1-2. The boundary between the contact area A1-1 and the contact area A1-2 is indicated by a three-dot chain line. The contact area A2 is divided into a contact area A2-1 in which the required amount of transferred material per unit area is large, and a contact area A2-2 in which the required amount of transferred material per unit area is small. The amount of transferred material in the contact area A2-1 is set to four times the amount of transferred material in the contact area A2-2. The boundary between the contact area A2-1 and the contact area A2-2 is also indicated by a three-dot chain line. Therefore, in FIG. 6, the transferred material amount of the left area (contact area A1-1 and contact area A2-1) divided by the three-dot chain line is the right area (contact area A1 divided by the three-dot chain line). -2 and 4 times the transferred material amount of the contact area A2-2). However, in FIG. 6, the contact area A1-1 and the contact area A2-1, which are located on the left side divided by the three-dot chain line and have different contact orders, have the same necessary amount of transferred material per unit area, Further, in the contact area A1-2 and the contact area A2-2 located on the right side divided by the three-dot chain line and having different contact orders, the necessary amount of the transferred material per unit area is the same.

  FIG. 7 shows the contact area A1 having the first order of contact defined as shown in FIG. 6 and the drop supply of the material to be transferred to the contact area A2 having the second order of contact. It is a figure which shows an example, FIG. 7 (A) is a top view, FIG. 7 (B) is a longitudinal cross-sectional view in the II-II line of FIG. 7 (A). In FIG. 7A, the area of one region surrounded by a chain line is taken as a unit area, the contact area A1 consists of four unit areas, and the contact area A2 consists of 12 unit areas. . In the droplet supply step, the order of contact is based on the amount of transferred material that needs to be supplied to the contact area A1 and the contact area A2 determined as described above, and the required amount of transferred material per unit area. The volume of one droplet in the same contact area is the same, and the volume of one droplet in the first contact area A1-1, A1-2 is the second contact area A2-1. , A2-2 to supply a droplet of the transfer material so as to be larger than the volume of one droplet.

  In the example shown in FIG. 7, by supplying droplets of the material to be transferred from an inkjet head (not shown), the plurality of droplets 51a are formed in a uniform arrangement in the contact area A1-1, and the contact area A1 is formed. The plurality of droplets 51a are formed so as to be evenly arranged even in the case of -2. Further, by supplying droplets of the material to be transferred from an inkjet head (not shown), the plurality of droplets 51b are formed in a uniform arrangement in the contact area A2-1, and a plurality of droplets are formed in the contact area A2-2. The droplets 51 b are formed in a uniform arrangement. The volume of one droplet 51a formed in the contact areas A1-1 and A1-2 is approximately an integral multiple of the volume of one droplet 51b supplied to the contact areas A2-1 and A2-2, 7 shows an example in which the volume of one droplet 51a is 16 times the volume of one droplet 51b. In FIG. 7A, in order to avoid complication of the drawing, the droplet 51b is shown in a part of unit areas among the 12 unit areas of the contact areas A2-1 and A2-2. There is. Further, in FIG. 7, the uniform arrangement of the droplets 51a in the contact region A1-1, the even arrangement of the droplets 51b in the contact region A2-1, and the contact region A2-2 are located at the intersections of the square lattices. Although the arrangement is made, the uniform arrangement is not limited to this. For example, the arrangement may be such that the hexagonal closest packing is performed at a predetermined pitch.

The droplets 51a formed in the contact regions A1-1 and A1-2 are one droplet in the contact region A1, and the droplets 51a have the same volume. Then, as described above, the amount of transferred material in the contact area A1-1 is four times the amount of transferred material in the contact area A1-2. Therefore, in FIG. 7, for the sake of convenience, in the contact area A1-1. An example in which four droplets 51a are supplied per unit area and one droplet 51a per unit area is supplied in the contact area A1-2 is described.
Further, the droplets 51b formed in the contact regions A2-1 and A2-2 are one droplet in the contact region A2, and each droplet 51b has the same volume. Then, as described above, since the transferred material amount of the contact area A2-1 is four times the transferred material amount of the contact area A2-2, in FIG. 7, for the sake of convenience, in the contact area A2-1. An example is described in which 64 droplets 51b are supplied per unit area, and in the contact area A2-2, 16 droplets 51b are supplied per unit area.

The volume of one droplet ejected from the inkjet head is preferably constant. In this case, in the example shown in FIG. 7, the volume of the droplet of x droplets (x is an integer of 1 or more) is the same as the volume of one droplet 51b, and one contact region A2-1 and A2-2 In order to form the liquid drop 51b, x liquid drop is supplied to the same place. Further, in order to form one droplet 51a in the contact areas A1-1 and A1-2, 16 times as many droplets as x droplets are supplied to the same place.
Thus, by supplying the droplets of the material to be transferred to the contact areas A1-1 and A1-2 and the contact areas A2-1 and A2-2, one droplet in the contact areas A1-1 and A1-2 is provided. The height h1 of 51a is larger than the height h2 of one droplet 51b in the contact areas A2-1 and A2-2.

In FIG. 8, the mold and the droplet are brought into contact by bringing the transfer substrate and the mold close to each other after the droplet of the material to be transferred is supplied in the droplet supply step, whereby the space between the transfer substrate and the mold is obtained. FIG. 6 is a view for explaining a contacting step of developing a droplet on the surface of the substrate to form a transferred material layer. In addition, the uneven structure with which a mold is equipped is abbreviate | omitted in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8, the mold 31 and the transfer substrate 41 are brought close to each other so that the gap G is smaller than the height h1 of one droplet 21 a in the contact regions A1-1 and A1-2. The droplet 51a contacts the mold 31 (FIG. 8A). The mold 31 to be used may have a concavo-convex structure according to the pattern formed by imprinting, and the material of the mold 31 can be the same as that of the mold 1 described above.

  Further, the gap G is made smaller by bringing the mold 31 and the transfer substrate 41 into proximity with each other, whereby the droplet 51a supplied to the contact area A1 is crushed (FIG. 8 (B)). FIG. 9 is a plane corresponding to FIG. 7A showing this state, and the mold is omitted. Further, the gap G is reduced by bringing the mold 31 and the transfer substrate 41 close to each other, whereby the capillary force acting in the gap between the mold 31 and the transfer substrate 41 causes the contact area A1 (contact area A1-1 and contact area A1). 2) The droplet 51a is developed in the inside, and the filling of the droplet into the concavo-convex structure of the mold 31 is performed (FIG. 8 (C)). FIG. 10 is a plane corresponding to FIG. 7A showing this state, and the mold is omitted. In FIG. 10, the transfer material layer 51, which is being formed by the development of the droplets, is hatched. Then, when the mold 31 and the transfer substrate 41 approach to a predetermined position where the gap G is smaller than the height h2 of one droplet 51b in the contact area A2, the droplet 51b contacts the mold 31, Filling of the droplets into the concavo-convex structure of the mold 31 in the contact area A2 (contact area A2-1 and contact area A2-2) is performed, and the transferred material layer 51 is formed between the transfer substrate 41 and the mold 31. (FIG. 8 (D)). In the development of droplets between the transfer substrate 41 and the mold 31 as described above, even if air bubbles exist, the development of droplets from the contact area A1 to the contact area A2 causes the air bubbles to It is conveyed in the peripheral direction, and is expelled from the transferred area 42 as the droplet development in the contact area A2 is completed.

After the contact step, the transfer material layer 51 is cured in the same manner as the curing step described above. Thereafter, in the same manner as in the above-described release step, the cured transfer material layer 51 and the mold 31 are pulled apart, and the pattern formation is completed with the pattern structure positioned on the transfer substrate 41. Alternatively, the transfer substrate 41 may be formed on the transfer substrate 41 by reversing the uneven structure of the mold 31 by etching the transfer substrate 41 through the pattern structure formed as described above. Furthermore, in the present invention, the transfer substrate 41 on which the pattern structure is formed by etching as described above can be used as a replica mold, and as described above, pattern formation having a concavo-convex structure can be performed.
According to the patterning method of the present invention as described above, the droplet and the mold are brought into contact in this order from the first contact area to the Nth (N is an integer of 2 or more) contact areas in order of contact Therefore, in the development of the droplets of the material to be transferred in the gap between the transfer substrate and the mold, the air bubble can be reliably prevented from being trapped. As a result, it is not necessary to provide a concavo-convex pattern for the purpose of prevention of air bubble confinement in the outer peripheral area of the transfer substrate, and there is no restriction on product design. In addition, a dedicated patterning device that curves the mold is not necessary, and the cost of patterning can be reduced.

The embodiments of the pattern formation method described above are exemplary, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.
For example, three or more types of contact areas may be defined in the transfer target area of the transfer substrate in the contact area definition step of the patterning method of the present invention. In the example shown in FIG. 11, the order in which the droplet and the mold come in contact with the transferred region 62 (the outer periphery is indicated by a three-dot chain line) set on one flat surface 61 a of the transfer substrate 61 is the first. Contact area A1 (the outer periphery is indicated by an alternate long and short dash line), a contact area A2 whose contact order is the second (an outer periphery is indicated by an alternate long and two short dash line), and a contact where the contact order is third Three contact areas of area A3 are defined. Also in this case, the contact area A2 having the second order of contact is located outside the contact area A1 having the first order of contact, and the contact area A3 having the third order of contact is The contact position is located outside the second contact area A2.

Further, the center of the outer peripheral shape of each of the first to Nth (N is an integer of 2 or more) defined in the transferred area of the transfer substrate in the contact area defining step of the pattern forming method of the present invention is In consideration of the pattern shape and the like of the concavo-convex structure of the mold to be used, they may not match. In the example shown in FIG. 12, the order in which the droplet and the mold come in contact with the transferred region 72 (the outer periphery is indicated by a two-dot chain line) set in one flat surface 71 a of the transfer substrate 71 is the first. A contact area A1 (the outer periphery is indicated by an alternate long and short dash line) and a contact area A2 having a second contact order are defined, the center C1 of the outer peripheral shape of the contact area A1 and the outer periphery of the contact area A2 The centers C2 of the shapes do not coincide.
Furthermore, although the outer peripheral shape of the transferred regions 12, 42, 62, 72 is square, it is not limited to this, and the outer peripheral shape of each contact region is not limited to square either, For example, the shape may be rectangular, rhombus, oval, circular, or any combination thereof.

[Pattern Forming Apparatus and Pattern Forming Program]
The pattern forming apparatus of the present invention supplies droplets of a material to be transferred to a region to be transferred of a transfer substrate, and then brings the mold and the droplets into contact by bringing a mold having a concavo-convex structure and the transfer substrate close to each other. As a result, droplets are developed between the transfer substrate and the mold to form a transferred material layer, and after curing the transferred material layer, separation from the mold is performed to form a pattern on the transfer substrate. Pattern forming apparatus.

  FIG. 13 is a schematic side view showing an embodiment of an embodiment of the patterning device of the present invention, and FIG. 14 is a schematic plan view of the patterning device shown in FIG. 13 and 14, the pattern forming apparatus 81 according to the present invention includes a mold holding portion 82 for holding a mold, a substrate holding portion 84 for holding a transfer substrate, and a liquid of a material to be transferred on the transfer substrate. A droplet supply unit 87 for supplying droplets, and a control unit 88 for controlling the mold holding unit 82, the substrate holding unit 84, and the droplet supply unit 87 are provided. Note that FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate an example in which the mold 31 and the transfer substrate 41 described above are used.

(Mold holding portion 82)
The mold holding portion 82 constituting the pattern forming apparatus 81 holds the mold 31, and the holding mechanism of the mold 31 is, for example, a holding mechanism by suction, a holding mechanism by mechanical clamping, a holding mechanism by electrostatics, etc. Well, the holding mechanism is not particularly limited. Further, the mold holding portion 82 may be vertically moved by the elevating mechanism 83 in the illustrated arrow Z direction. A light source (not shown) and an optical system (not shown) for curing the resin when a photocurable resin is used as a molding resin may be disposed above the mold holding portion 82.

(Substrate holder 84)
The substrate holding unit 84 constituting the pattern forming apparatus 81 holds the transfer substrate 41 for imprinting, and the holding mechanism of the transfer substrate 41 includes, for example, a holding mechanism by suction, a holding mechanism by mechanical clamping, and a static mechanism. It may be a holding mechanism or the like, and the holding mechanism is not particularly limited. The substrate holding unit 84 is movable in the horizontal plane on the XY stage 85 by the horizontal drive mechanism 86. In FIG. 13, the substrate holding unit 84 is at the droplet supply position, and can be moved to the transfer position below the mold holding unit 82 by moving the XY stage 85 in the horizontal plane.

(Droplet supply unit 87)
The droplet supply unit 87 constituting the pattern forming apparatus 81 supplies droplets of the material to be transferred onto the transfer substrate 41 held by the substrate holding unit 84, and the ink jet apparatus (only the ink jet head 87a in the illustrated example) Are shown). The inkjet apparatus included in the droplet supply unit 87 has a desired operation of the inkjet head 87 a for supplying droplets of the material to be transferred onto the transfer substrate 41 held by the substrate holding unit 84, for example, the horizontal plane of the XY stage 85 And an ink supply unit to the ink jet head 87a, and the like.

(Control unit 88)
The control unit 88 constituting the pattern forming apparatus 81 moves the mold 31 to a desired position, such as a lowered position close to the transfer substrate 41 at the time of imprinting, and a raised position retracted when the transfer substrate 41 moves. The raising and lowering of the mold holding portion 82 in the direction of the arrow Z by the raising and lowering mechanism 83 is controlled. Further, in order to move the transfer substrate 41 to a desired position, such as a position to receive liquid droplets supplied from the liquid droplet supply unit 87, a transfer position below the mold holding unit 82 at the time of imprint, etc. The movement of the unit 84 on the XY stage 85 is controlled. Furthermore, it controls droplet supply by the ink jet apparatus provided in the droplet supply unit 87. The control unit 88 is, for example, a computer, has a program storage unit (not shown), and stores a program for executing the control as described above. This program is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a hard disk (HD), a compact disk (CD), a DVD, a flash memory, and the like, and is installed in the control unit 88 from the recording medium. It may be one.

  In the control of the droplet supply unit 87 in the control unit 88, the control unit 88 executes the program for forming a pattern, whereby the order in which the droplet and the mold contact the transferred area of the transfer substrate is the first. Defined in N contact regions from N to N (N is an integer of 2 or more), and then the volume of one droplet in the contact region having the same order of contact between the droplet and the mold is the same And the volume of one droplet in the Kth (K is an integer from 1 to (N-1)) contact area in the order is from the volume of one droplet in the (K + 1) th contact area The supply position of the droplet and the number of times of supply are set so as to be large. Then, the droplet supply unit 87 is controlled to supply droplets at the supply position and the number of times of supply set in this way.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an example of the pattern formation program of the present invention for controlling the droplet supply unit 87 as described above on the computer of the control unit 88. 16 to 21 are partial plan views for explaining the program for pattern formation of the present invention, taking the transfer substrate 41 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 as an example.
In the program for pattern formation of the present invention, the transfer target area of the transfer substrate is defined in a plurality of unit transfer areas (step S1). For example, when the minimum supply pitch of the droplets of the material to be transferred is P, the unit transfer area has an area of α times (α is 1 or more) the area of the square of P on one side, and the outer peripheral shape is rectangular. It can be set as a certain area. Here, the minimum supply pitch P is a value determined by the resolution of the droplet arrangement of the droplet supply unit such as the droplet supply unit or the inkjet device, and is separated from each other in the droplet supply unit or the droplet supply unit. This means the minimum pitch of the distance between droplets that can be supplied.
In the example shown in FIG. 16, the square having an area 64 times the area of the square of which the minimum supply pitch P of the droplet 111 of the material to be transferred is one side (a square of which side is P with 8 rows × 8 columns) The arranged squares (α = 64) are taken as the unit transfer area 101. Further, in this example, the square transfer target area 42 (the outer periphery is indicated by the alternate long and two short dashes line) set on the transfer substrate 41 is U1-1 to U4-4 arranged in four rows and four columns. Are defined in the 16 unit transfer areas 101 of FIG. In FIG. 16, 16 unit transfer areas 101 are shown divided by dashed lines, and one side is P in one unit transfer area 101 (U1-1) in order to avoid complication of the drawing. It shows a state in which the squares are arranged in 8 rows × 8 columns.

Next, the necessary amount of material to be transferred is determined for each unit transfer area 101 (step S2). The amount of material to be transferred is the volume of the concave portion of the concavo-convex structure present in the area of the mold 31 (see FIG. 8) corresponding to the target unit transfer area 101 and the residual produced between the mold 31 and the transfer substrate 41. It can be determined based on the volume which is the product of the set value of the thickness of the film (see FIG. 8D) and the value of the area of the unit transfer area 101. For example, the volume of the concave portions of the concavo-convex structures present in the region of the mold 31 corresponding to the unit transfer area 101 of interest is V _M, the residual film thickness which occurs between the mold 31 and the transfer substrate 41 set value and when the volume is the product of the value of the area of the unit transfer area 101 is V _G, both the sum of (V _M + V _G), to be a material to be transferred amount necessary for the unit transfer area 101 it can. Furthermore, the amount of volatilization from droplets supplied from the unit transfer area 101 to contact with the mold is corrected to the amount of transferred material (V _M + V _G ) determined as described above, and the final result is obtained. The amount of material to be transferred may be set. As described above, the transfer material amount is determined for each of the 16 unit transfer regions 101.

In FIG. 17, eight unit transfer regions 101 (U1-1) are located in a region I that occupies the left half of the square transfer region 42 (the outer periphery is indicated by a two-dot chain line) set on the transfer substrate 41. , U2-1, U1-2, U2-2, U1-3 , U2-3, U1-4, the transfer material amount determined are common to V _I at U2-4), the transfer region 42 Unit transfer regions 101 (U3-1, U4-1, U3-2, U4-2, U3-3, U4-3, U3-4, U4-4) located in the region II which occupies the right half of The amount of transferred material determined in the above is common to V _II , and the amount of transferred material V _I is four times the amount of transferred material V _II as an example. In FIG. 17, the boundary between the area I and the area II is indicated by a three-dot chain line.
Next, for each unit transfer area 101, the number of drops of the droplets of the material to be transferred to be supplied is determined (step S3). The number of drops can be determined by dividing the amount of material to be transferred necessary for the target unit transfer area by the amount of one drop to be supplied. As described above, since the material to be transferred amount V _I is four times of the transferred amount of material V _II, Examples, square of the transfer area 42 (outer periphery that is set on the transfer substrate 41 shown in FIG. 18 And the number of drops in each of the eight unit transfer areas 101 located in the area I occupying the left half of the two-dot chain line is 64, and eight located in the area II occupying the right half of the transferred area 42 The number of drops in each unit transfer area 101 is 16.

  Next, for each unit transfer area 101, the order of occurrence of contact between the droplet and the mold is determined from the first to the Nth (N is an integer of 2 or more) (step S4). Such contact order is the distance from the center of the target unit transfer area 101 to the outer periphery of the closest transferred area 42, the direction and speed of wetting and spreading of droplets in the gap between the mold 31 and the transfer substrate 41, Dimensions can be determined as an indicator. The direction and speed of wetting and spreading of droplets are the shape (eg, line / space shape, dot shape, hole shape, etc.), size (eg, depth, width, etc. of depressions, etc.) of the pattern of the concavo-convex structure of the mold 31 It can be estimated in consideration of the wettability of the material to be transferred used, the material of the transfer substrate and mold, and the surface condition. In addition, the unit transfer area 101 of the (K + 1) th (K is an integer of 1 to (N-1)) in which the droplet contacts the mold is positioned outside the Kth unit transfer area 101. The order of contact can be determined using the index as an index. Here, in the two unit transfer areas 101 to be compared, one having a smaller distance from the outer peripheral end to the outer peripheral end of the transfer receiving area 42 is taken as a unit transfer area located outside.

FIG. 19 is an example showing the contact order in the case of N = 2 determined in this way, and in the case of a square transfer region 42 (the outer periphery is indicated by a two-dot chain line) set on the transfer substrate 41. The four unit transfer areas 101 (U2-2, U3-2, U2-3, U3-3) located at the center are the first contact area A1 (the outer circumference is indicated by a dashed dotted line) in the contact order. 12 unit transfer areas 101 (U1-1, U2-1, U3-1, U4-1, U4-2, U4-3, U1-2, U1-3, U1-4) , U2-4, U3-4, and U4-4) are determined as the second contact area A2 in the contact order.
Next, the order of contact of the droplet and the mold determines the supply position and the number of times of droplet supply in the Nth unit transfer region (step S5). In this step, the material to be transferred is such that the plurality of droplets are uniformly dispersed in the unit transfer area, and the number of droplets to form one droplet constituting the plurality of droplets is minimized. Determine the position and number of times of droplet supply. The K-th unit (K is an integer from 1 to (N-1)) of the contact order described later is set so as to minimize the number of droplets dropped in the Nth unit transfer region in the contact order. This is to facilitate setting the volume of one droplet in the transfer region to be larger than the volume of one droplet in the (K + 1) th unit transfer region, and also to make a droplet unit The reason is to make the thickness of the remaining film uniform by dispersing and supplying as much as possible in the transfer region.

FIG. 20 is an example showing the supply position and the number of times of supply of droplets determined as described above in the second transfer unit (N = 2) in which the contact order is the second (N = 2). In FIG. 20, the material to be transferred in eight unit transfer regions 101 located in a region I occupying the left half of the square transfer region 42 (the outer periphery is indicated by a two-dot chain line) set on the transfer substrate 41. the amount is common in the transfer material weight = V _I as described above, dropping per one unit transfer area 101 is 64. Of the eight unit transfer areas 101, six unit transfer areas 101 (U1-1, U2-1, U1-2, U1-3, U1-4, U2) located around the transfer receiving area 42. 4) is determined as the second contact area A2 in the contact order as described above. In the illustrated example, in the six unit transfer areas 101 having the second contact order, the number of times of supply for forming one droplet is one, and one droplet is formed by one droplet. Ru. Then, the supply position 111 b of 64 droplets is uniformly set in the unit transfer area 101. In FIG. 20, in order to avoid complication of the drawing, the six unit transfer areas 101 (U1-1, U2-1, U1-2, U1-3, U1-4, U2-4) are shown. Among them, the supply position 111b of 64 drops is shown only in U1-4.

On the other hand, in FIG. 20, the amount of transferred material in the eight unit transfer regions 101 located in the region II occupying the right half of the transferred region 42 is the same as described above, and the transferred material amount = V _II , The number of drops per one unit transfer area 101 is 16. Of the eight unit transfer areas 101, six unit transfer areas 101 (U3-1, U4-1, U4-2, U4-3, U4-4, U3) located around the transfer target area 42. 4) is determined as the second contact area A2 in the contact order as described above. In the illustrated example, in the six unit transfer areas 101 having the second contact order, the number of times of supply for forming one droplet is one, and one droplet is formed by one droplet. Ru. Then, the supply position 111 b of 16 drops is uniformly set in the unit transfer area 101. In FIG. 20, in order to avoid complication of the drawing, in the six unit transfer areas 101 (U3-1, U4-1, U4-2, U4-3, U4-4, U3-4). Among them, the supply position of 16 drops is shown only at U4-4.
Next, the supply position and the number of times of supply of droplets in the Kth (K is an integer of 1 to (N-1)) unit transfer area in which the droplets and the mold come in contact with each other are determined (step S6). In this step, the volume of one droplet in the Kth (K is an integer from 1 to (N-1)) unit transfer area in contact order is one liquid in the (K + 1) th unit transfer area. Within the unit transfer area, the number of droplets to form one drop is the same in the Kth unit transfer area, which is larger than the drop volume and in which the drop and the mold come in contact order The position and number of times of supply of the droplets of the material to be transferred are determined so that one droplet is evenly dispersed.

FIG. 21 is an example showing the supply position and the number of times of supply of droplets determined as described above in the unit transfer area where the contact order is the first (K = 1). In FIG. 21, the transfer material in eight unit transfer regions 101 located in a region I occupying the left half of a square transfer region 42 (the outer periphery is indicated by a two-dot chain line) set on the transfer substrate 41. the amount is common in the transfer material weight = V _I as described above, dropping per one unit transfer area 101 is 64. Of the eight unit transfer areas 101, the two unit transfer areas 101 (U2-2 and U2-3) located closer to the center of the transferred area 42 have the first contact order as described above. The contact area A1 is determined. In the illustrated example, in each unit transfer area 101 where the contact order is the first, four supply positions 111a are set so as to be equal within the unit transfer area 101. Therefore, one supply position is provided. By supplying 16 droplets to 111 a, four droplets of one droplet are formed in the unit transfer area 101.

On the other hand, in FIG. 21, the amount of transferred material in the eight unit transfer regions 101 located in the region II occupying the right half of the transferred region 42 is the same as described above, and the transferred material amount is V _II , The number of drops per one unit transfer area 101 is 16. Of the eight unit transfer areas 101, the two unit transfer areas 101 (U3-2 and U3-3) located closer to the center of the transferred area 42 have the first contact order as described above. The contact area A1 is determined. In the illustrated example, one supply position 111a is set at the center of the unit transfer area 101 in each of the unit transfer areas 101 where the contact order is the first. By supplying the droplets, one droplet is formed in the unit transfer area 101.
Subsequently, it is determined whether the volume of one droplet in the first unit transfer area is equal to or less than the amount of the material to be transferred in the order in which the droplet and the mold come into contact (step S7). In step S6 above, the volume of one droplet in the Kth (K is an integer from 1 to (N-1)) unit transfer area in the order of contact is one in the (K + 1) th unit transfer area. The supply position and the number of times of supply of the droplets are determined so as to be greater than the volume of the droplets. Therefore, the supply position and the number of times of supply of the droplets determined for the first unit transfer area in the order of the contact of the droplets and the mold are calculated from the supply position and the number of times of supply of the droplets. The volume of the droplet may exceed the amount of the transferred material in the unit transfer area determined in step S2 described above. Therefore, in step S7, it is confirmed that the volume of one droplet in the first unit transfer area is equal to or less than the amount of transferred material, and it is determined that the volume is not equal to or less than the transferred amount (No). Returning to step 6, the order of contact is determined back to the (N-1) th unit transfer area, and the position and number of times of droplet supply are determined again. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S7 that the volume of one droplet in the first unit transfer area is equal to or less than the transfer material amount (Yes), the pattern forming program is ended.

In such a pattern formation program and pattern formation method using the pattern formation device of the present invention, since confinement of air bubbles in the material to be transferred is surely prevented, a dedicated pattern formation device is not necessary. In addition, it is not necessary to provide a concavo-convex pattern for the purpose of prevention of air bubble confinement in the outer peripheral area of the transfer substrate, and there is no restriction on product design.
The embodiments of the pattern formation method, the pattern formation apparatus and the program for pattern formation described above are examples, and the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, in the above embodiment, the order in which the contact between the first to N-th (N is an integer of 2 or more) droplets and the mold occur is described as N = 2 for convenience. Can be 3 or more.

Next, the present invention will be described in more detail by showing more specific examples.
[Example]
A silicon wafer (diameter 150 mm) was prepared as a transfer substrate. As shown in FIG. 22, a 40 mm × 40 mm transferred area was set at the center of one surface of the transfer substrate.
Further, a square of 10 mm × 10 mm was used as a unit transfer area, and the above-described transfer area was defined in 16 unit transfer areas (step S1). Here, the resolution of the image recognition apparatus used is set to 600 dpi, and the minimum supply pitch P at which droplets can be supplied separately from the ink jet head of the used ink jet apparatus is 25.4 mm. It was / 600 = 0.042333 mm.
Next, for each unit transfer area, the necessary amount of transferred material was determined to be 23000 pL as follows (step S2). That is, since the mold to be used has a concavo-convex structure in which linear concave portions having a width of 1000 nm and a depth of 100 nm are arranged at a pitch of 2000 nm, the volume V of the concave portions of the concavo-convex structure present in the region of the mold corresponding to the unit transfer region _M was calculated to be 5000 pL. Further, in order to imprint such residual film thickness is 180nm, the volume V _G is the product of the value of the area 100 mm ² of this setting 180nm and unit transfer area was calculated as 18000PL. Then, the sum of the volume V _M and the volume V _G (V _M + V _G ) was determined as the amount of transferred material required for one unit transfer area. Thus, the necessary amount of transferred material was common to all unit transfer areas.

Next, since the drop volume of one drop supplied from the inkjet head of the inkjet apparatus used is 6 pL, the number of droplets to be supplied to each unit transfer area having a necessary transfer material amount of 23000 pL is 3833 (Step S3).
Next, as shown in FIG. 22, in the unit transfer area located in the center 20 mm × 20 mm area of the 40 mm × 40 mm transfer area described above, the order of contact of the droplet with the mold is the first. The area of 20 mm × 20 mm was taken as a contact area A1. Further, the unit transfer area located around the contact area A1 is set to the second area (contact area A2) in which the droplet and the mold come in contact with each other (step S4).
Next, as shown in FIG. 22, one droplet has a hexagonal close-packed arrangement with a 0.3 mm pitch, as shown in FIG. The amount of one droplet was determined to be 18 pL (step S5). In this case, the minimum number of drops for forming one droplet is determined so that a plurality of droplets are uniformly dispersed in the unit transfer area, and the number of droplets required for forming one droplet is three And

Further, as shown in FIG. 22, the droplet supply to the unit transfer area constituting the contact area A1 having the first contact order is a hexagonal close-packed arrangement in which one droplet has a pitch of 0.6 mm, Also, the liquid volume of one droplet was determined to be 72 pL (step S6). In this case, the number of droplets required to form one droplet was 12 droplets. It was confirmed that the liquid amount 72 pL of one droplet is equal to or less than the above-mentioned transferred material amount 23,000 pL required for one unit transfer area (step S7).
Then, a commercially available photo-curable resist was supplied as droplets from the ink jet head to the transfer region (40 mm × 40 mm) of the silicon wafer at the supply position and the number of times of supply determined as described above.

The mold was immediately brought close to the silicon wafer supplied with the photocurable resist as described above, and droplets of the photocurable resist were developed between the silicon wafer and the mold.
The state of the photocurable resist developed in this manner was photographed from the mold side using a digital camera, and is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 23A, it was confirmed that the photocurable resist layer formed between the silicon wafer and the mold was in a good state with no air bubbles remaining. In addition, the rectangular image of about 1.5 mm square which exists several pieces in FIG. 23A is a mark etc. which was used for imprint, and is a thing which has nothing to do with air bubbles. The same applies to FIGS. 23 (B) and 23 (C) below.

Comparative Example 1
In the embodiment, the contact area A2 having the second contact order is not set, and the droplet supply to all unit transfer areas is achieved by one droplet having a hexagonal close-packed arrangement with a pitch of 0.6 mm, and The liquid droplet of the photocurable resist was developed between the silicon wafer and the mold in the same manner as in the example except that the liquid volume of the liquid crystal droplet was determined to be 72 pL.
The state of the photocurable resist developed in this manner was photographed in the same manner as in the example, and is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 23B, air bubbles (areas that look whiter than the surroundings in the figure) exist in the photocurable resist layer formed between the silicon wafer and the mold, and good pattern formation is obtained. It was confirmed to be difficult.

Comparative Example 2
In the embodiment, the contact area A1 having the first contact order is not set, and the droplet supply to all unit transfer areas is achieved by the hexagonal close-packed arrangement of one droplet having a pitch of 0.3 mm, and The photocurable resist droplets were spread between the silicon wafer and the mold in the same manner as in the example except that the liquid volume of the droplets was determined to be 18 pL.
The state of the photocurable resist developed in this manner was photographed in the same manner as in the example, and is shown in FIG. 23 (C). As shown in FIG. 23C, the photo-curable resist layer formed between the silicon wafer and the mold has air bubbles (areas that look whiter than the surroundings in the figure), and good pattern formation is obtained. It was confirmed to be difficult.

  The present invention is applicable to the manufacture of various pattern structures using an imprint method, and the fine processing to a workpiece such as a substrate.

11, 41, 61, 71: Transfer substrate 12, 42, 62, 72: Transfer area A1, A2, A3: Contact area 21a, 21b, 51a, 51b: Droplet of transfer material 21, 51: Transfer material Layer 1, 31 ... Mold 81 ... Pattern formation device 82 ... Mold holding portion 84 ... Base material holding portion 87 ... Droplet supply portion 88 ... Control portion

Claims (12)

In the pattern forming method, a pattern is formed on the transfer substrate by bringing a mold having a concavo-convex structure into contact with droplets of the transfer target material disposed in the transfer target region of the transfer substrate .
A unit transfer area defining step of defining the transfer target area of the transfer substrate into a plurality of unit transfer areas;
A transfer material amount determining step of determining the amount of the transfer material required for each of the plurality of unit transfer regions;
A drop number determination step of determining a total drop number of the transfer target material to be dropped to each of the plurality of unit transfer regions;
A contact that determines the first to N-th (N is an integer of 2 or more) for each of the unit transfer areas, the contact order in which the droplets and the mold come into contact with each other is arranged in each of the plurality of unit transfer areas. Order determination process,
A droplet supply position and number determining step of determining a supply position of the transfer target material to be dropped to each of the plurality of unit transfer regions and a supply frequency of dropping the transfer target material to each of the supply positions;
According count supply position and the supply of the material to be transferred, which is determined by the droplet supplying position and number determination step, to form the droplets by dropping the object transfer materials to the transfer target region of the transfer substrate A droplet supply process,
Contacting step the mold and into contact with the mold and the liquid droplets by approaching the transfer board, thereby forming a material layer to be transferred to expand the droplet during the transfer substrate and the molding de When,
A curing step of curing the material layer to be transferred,
The cured and a release step for detachment of the transfer material layer and the molding de,
In the droplet supply position and number-of-times determining step, the contact order is such that the number of drops of the transfer material to be dropped to the respective supply positions of the Nth unit transfer area is the smallest. A volume of one of the droplets disposed in the Kth (K is an integer of 1 to (N-1)) unit transfer regions is one in which the volume of one droplet is disposed in the (K + 1) th unit transfer region The Nth to the first in order so that the volume of one droplet in the unit transfer area having the same contact order is the same so as to be larger than the volume of the droplet. A pattern forming method comprising: determining a supply position and a supply number of times of the material to be transferred in a unit transfer area . In the unit transfer area defining step, when the minimum supply pitch of the material to be transferred is P, an area which is α times (α is 1 or more) of the area of the square of P one side and whose outer peripheral shape is rectangular The pattern forming method according to claim 1, wherein the pattern is set as the unit transfer area . In the contact order determination step, the contact order is determined such that the (K + 1) th unit transfer area is positioned outside the Kth unit transfer area. The pattern formation method according to claim 1 or claim 2. In the transferred material amount determining step, the volume of the concave portion of the concavo-convex structure present in the area of the mold corresponding to each of the plurality of unit transfer areas, and the thickness of the residual film generated between the mold and the transfer substrate The pattern formation method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the amount of the material to be transferred is determined based on a design value and a volume which is a product of the value of the area of the unit transfer area. . In the material to be transferred amount determining step, determining the material to be transferred amount corrected by performing based on the volatilization amount of the droplets from being disposed respectively into contact with the mold of the plurality of unit transfer area The pattern formation method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , characterized by In the droplet supply position and number-of-times determining step, the K-th unit having the K-th contact order after the volume of the material to be transferred dropped onto the transfer region of the transfer substrate is made constant. The supply position and the supply position such that the number of times of supplying the material to be transferred to the respective supply positions in the transfer region is greater than the number of times of supplying the material to be transferred to the (K + 1) th position. The pattern formation method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein the number of times of supply is determined . In the pattern forming method, a pattern is formed on the transfer substrate by bringing a mold having a concavo-convex structure into contact with droplets of the transfer target material disposed in the transfer target region of the transfer substrate.
A unit transfer area defining step of defining the transfer target area of the transfer substrate into a plurality of unit transfer areas;
A transfer material amount determining step of determining the amount of the transfer material required for each of the plurality of unit transfer regions;
A drop number determination step of determining a total drop number of the transfer target material to be dropped to each of the plurality of unit transfer regions;
A contact that determines the first to N-th (N is an integer of 2 or more) for each of the unit transfer areas, the contact order in which the droplets and the mold come into contact with each other is arranged in each of the plurality of unit transfer areas. Order determination process,
A droplet supply position and number determining step of determining a supply position of the transfer target material to be dropped to each of the plurality of unit transfer regions and a supply frequency of dropping the transfer target material to each of the supply positions;
A liquid for forming the droplet by dropping the transfer material onto the transfer target area of the transfer substrate in accordance with the supply position and the supply frequency of the transfer material determined by the droplet supply position and the number determination process. Drop supply process,
Contacting the mold and the droplet by bringing the mold and the transfer substrate close to each other, thereby spreading the droplet between the transfer substrate and the mold to form a transferred material layer;
A curing step of curing the transferred material layer;
A releasing step for separating the cured material layer to be transferred and the mold;
Have
In the unit transfer area defining step, when the minimum supply pitch of the material to be transferred is P, an area which is α times (α is 1 or more) of the area of the square of P one side and whose outer peripheral shape is rectangular A pattern forming method characterized by setting as the unit transfer area. The droplets of the transfer material disposed on the transfer area of the transfer substrate into contact with mall-de having an uneven structure, thereby the transfer material layer to expand the droplet between the mold and the transfer substrate In a pattern forming apparatus for forming a pattern, forming a pattern by forming the pattern, curing the transfer target material layer, and separating the transfer material layer from the mold.
A mold holding unit for holding the mold;
A substrate holding unit for holding the transfer substrate;
A droplet supply unit for forming the droplets by dropping the material to be transferred onto the transfer substrate;
A control unit that controls at least the droplet supply unit;
Have
The control unit defines the transfer target area of the transfer substrate in a plurality of unit transfer areas, and the contact order with which the droplet and the mold are arranged in each of the plurality of unit transfer areas is the unit The first to N-th (N is an integer of 2 or more) is determined for each transfer area, and the drop of the material to be transferred is dropped on the respective supply positions of the unit transfer area of the N-th contact order The volume of one of the droplets disposed in the unit transfer area of the Kth (K is an integer of 1 to (N-1)) is the (K + 1) th so that the number is minimized. The volume of one droplet in the unit transfer area having the same contact order is the same so as to be larger than the volume of the one droplet arranged in the unit transfer region of In the order from the Nth to the first, the unit transfer Wherein determining the feed position and the supply times of the transfer material in the range, the pattern forming apparatus characterized by controlling the droplet supply unit to dropping the material to be transferred at the feed position and the supply count. A unit transfer area defining step of defining a transfer target area of the transfer substrate into a plurality of unit transfer areas;
A transfer material amount determining step of determining the amount of transfer material required for each of the plurality of unit transfer regions;
A drop number determination step of determining a total drop number of the transfer target material to be dropped to each of the plurality of unit transfer areas;
Contact rank droplets and the mold of the material to be transferred which are respectively located in the plurality of unit transfer area in contact, from the first to N-th (N is an integer of 2 or more) for each of the unit transfer area Contact order determination step to determine
Have a said droplet supplying position and the number determining step determines the supply number of times of dropping the transfer material supply position and the respective supply position of the material to be transferred is dropped into each of the plurality of unit transfer area,
In the droplet supply position and number-of-times determining step, the contact order is such that the number of drops of the transfer material to be dropped to each of the supply positions of the Nth unit transfer area is minimized. A volume of one of the droplets disposed in the Kth (K is an integer of 1 to (N-1)) unit transfer regions is one in which the volume of one droplet is disposed in the (K + 1) th unit transfer region The Nth to the first in order so that the volume of one droplet in the unit transfer area having the same contact order is the same so as to be larger than the volume of the droplet. wherein in the unit transfer area is characterized by determining the feed position and the supply times of the transfer material, wherein the control unit operates to pattern program on a computer for controlling the pattern forming apparatus according to claim 8. In the unit transfer area defining step, when the minimum supply pitch of the material to be transferred is P, an area which is α times (α is 1 or more) an area of a square of P side and whose outer peripheral shape is rectangular 10. The program for pattern formation according to claim 9, wherein the program is set as the unit transfer area. A unit transfer area defining step of defining a transfer target area of the transfer substrate into a plurality of unit transfer areas;
A transfer material amount determining step of determining the amount of transfer material required for each of the plurality of unit transfer regions;
A drop number determination step of determining a total drop number of the transfer target material to be dropped to each of the plurality of unit transfer areas;
The first to N-th (N is an integer of 2 or more) for each unit transfer area, for the contact order with which the droplets of the transfer material and the mold come in contact with each of the plurality of unit transfer areas Contact order determination step to determine
A droplet supply position and number determining step of determining a supply position of the transfer target material to be dropped to each of the plurality of unit transfer areas and a supply frequency of dropping the transfer target material to each of the supply positions;
Have
In the unit transfer area defining step, when the minimum supply pitch of the material to be transferred is P, an area which is α times (α is 1 or more) an area of a square of P side and whose outer peripheral shape is rectangular It is characterized in that it is set as the unit transfer area,
The mold having a concavo-convex structure is brought into contact with droplets of the transferred material disposed in the transferred region of the transfer substrate, whereby the droplets are spread between the transfer substrate and the mold to be transferred A pattern forming apparatus for forming a transfer material layer, curing the transfer material layer, and separating the transfer material layer from the mold to form a pattern, and a mold holding portion for holding the mold; A substrate holding unit for holding a transfer substrate; a droplet supply unit for forming the droplet by dropping the transfer material onto the transfer substrate; and a plurality of the transfer regions of the transfer substrate The first to Nth contact positions of the droplets and the mold, which are defined in the unit transfer area of each of the plurality of unit transfer areas, are defined in each of the unit transfer areas. The contact order is K th (K is 1 to (N-so that the volume of one droplet in the unit transfer area having the same contact order is the same). The volume of one of the droplets disposed in the unit transfer area of the integer 1) is larger than the volume of one of the droplets disposed in the (K + 1) th unit transfer area A control unit configured to determine a supply position and a supply frequency of the transfer target material in the unit transfer region, and control at least the droplet supply unit to drop the transfer target material according to the supply position and the supply frequency; A program for forming a pattern that operates on a computer of the control unit that controls a pattern forming apparatus. In the contact order determination step, the contact order is determined such that the (K + 1) th unit transfer area is positioned outside the Kth unit transfer area. The program for pattern formation according to any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein

Images