JP7071231B2 - Flattening device, flattening method, article manufacturing method, and method for creating droplet placement pattern data - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a flattening device, a flattening method, an article manufacturing method, and a method for creating droplet arrangement pattern data.

With the increasing demand for miniaturization of semiconductor devices, in addition to the conventional photolithography technology, microfabrication technology that forms an uncured composition on a substrate by molding and curing it with a mold to form a pattern of the composition on the substrate is available. Attention has been paid. Such a technique is called an imprint technique, and can form a fine pattern on the order of several nanometers on a substrate.

As one of the imprint techniques, for example, there is a photocuring method. An imprint device that employs a photocuring method molds a photocurable composition supplied to a shot region on a substrate with a mold, irradiates light to cure the composition, and molds the cured composition. By pulling them apart, a pattern is formed on the substrate.

Further, in recent years, a technique for flattening a composition on a substrate has been proposed (see Patent Document 1). The technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 aims to improve the accuracy of flattening by dropping a composition based on a step of a substrate and curing the composition in a state where the dropped composition is in contact with a flat surface of a mold. It is a thing.

Japanese Patent Publication No. 2011-528626

However, in the conventional flattening device, the mold release force becomes large because the composition on the substrate and the mold are brought into contact with each other and then separated from each other in a larger area than the imprinting device. If the mold release force becomes large, the mold release operation itself may not be performed normally, or the composition on the substrate may not be normally flattened.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an advantageous technique for flattening a composition on a substrate.

The flattening device as one aspect of the present invention for solving the above problems is a flattening device for flattening a composition on a substrate using a mold, and is a first region including the center position of the substrate and the first region. After the composition is flattened by contacting the droplet supply section for arranging a plurality of droplets of the composition on the outer second region with the composition arranged by the droplet supply section and the mold. It has a mechanism for separating the mold from the composition, and the droplet supply portion is made thicker than the composition arranged in the first region by stacking the droplets of the composition on the second region. The composition is placed on the second region, and the mechanism brings the composition on the first region and the composition stacked on the second region into contact with the mold to bring the first region into contact with the first region. It is characterized in that the above composition is flattened and then separated from the composition on the first region and the second region.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an advantageous technique for flattening a composition on a substrate.

It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the flattening apparatus. It is a figure for demonstrating the outline of the flattening process. It is sectional drawing of the substrate on which the composition is arranged. It is sectional drawing when the mold and the substrate at the time of a flattening process were brought into contact with each other. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the flattening process in a flattening apparatus. It is sectional drawing after the flattening process. It is a flowchart of the method of making a drop arrangement pattern.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, in each figure, the same reference number is given to the same member, and duplicate description is omitted.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the configuration of the flattening device 100. The flattening device 100 is embodied in a molding device that molds the composition on the substrate 1 using the mold 11 (mold, template), and in the present embodiment, the composition on the substrate is flattened. The flattening apparatus 100 cures the composition in a state where the composition on the substrate is in contact with the mold, and separates the cured composition from the mold to cause a global or local flat surface of the composition on the substrate. To form.

A silicon wafer is a typical base material for a substrate, but the substrate is not limited thereto. The substrate 1 can be arbitrarily selected from those known as substrates for semiconductor devices such as aluminum, titanium-tungsten alloy, aluminum-silicon alloy, aluminum-copper-silicon alloy, silicon oxide, and silicon nitride. can. As the substrate 1, a substrate may be used in which an adhesion layer is formed by surface treatment such as silane coupling treatment, silazane treatment, film formation of an organic thin film, and the like, and the adhesion to the curable composition is improved. .. The substrate 1 is typically a circle with a diameter of 300 mm, but the substrate 1 is not limited to this.

As the mold 11, it is preferable to use a mold made of a light-transmitting material in consideration of the light irradiation step. Specific examples of the material of the material constituting the mold 11 include glass, quartz, PMMA (Polymethyl methyllate), a light transparent resin such as a polycarbonate resin, a transparent metal vapor-deposited film, a flexible film such as polydimethylsiloxane, and photocuring. A film, a metal film, or the like is preferable. The mold 11 is preferably a circle having a diameter larger than 300 mm and smaller than 500 mm, but is not limited to this. Further, the thickness of the mold 11 is preferably 0.25 mm or more and less than 2 mm, but is not limited to this.

As the composition, it is preferable to use a UV curable liquid in consideration of the light irradiation step. Typically, monomers such as acrylates and methacrylates may be used.

As shown in FIG. 1, the flattening device 100 includes a chuck 2, a substrate stage 3, a base surface plate 4, a support column 5, a top plate 6, a guide bar plate 7, a guide bar 8, a mold drive unit 9, a support column 10, and a mold. It has a chuck 12, a head 13, and an alignment shelf 14. Further, the flattening device 100 includes a droplet supply unit 20, an off-axis alignment (OA) scope 21, a substrate transfer unit 22, an alignment scope 23, a light source 24, a stage drive unit 31, a mold transfer unit 32, and a cleaning unit 33. It has a control unit 200. The chuck 2 and the substrate stage 3 form a substrate holding portion for holding the substrate 1, and the mold chuck 12 and the head 13 form a mold holding portion for holding the mold 11. Here, the XYZ coordinate system is defined so that the horizontal plane is the XY plane and the vertical direction is the Z-axis direction.

Referring to FIG. 1, the substrate 1 is carried in from the outside of the flattening device 100 or a storage box in which a wafer is stored by a substrate transport unit 22 including a transport hand and the like, and is held by a chuck 2. The substrate stage 3 is supported by the base surface plate 4 and is driven in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction in order to position the substrate 1 held by the chuck 2 at a predetermined position. The stage drive unit 31 includes, for example, a linear motor, an air cylinder, and the like, and drives (moves) the substrate stage 3 in at least the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, but drives (moves) the substrate stage 3 in two or more axes (for example,). It may have a function of driving in the 6-axis direction). Further, the stage drive unit 31 includes a rotation mechanism and rotationally drives (rotates) the chuck 2 or the substrate stage 3 around an axis parallel to the Z-axis direction.

The mold 11 is carried in from the outside of the flattening device 100 or from the storage box in which the mold is stored by the mold transport unit 32 including the transport hand, and is held by the mold chuck 12. The mold 11 has, for example, a circular or quadrangular outer shape, and includes a flat surface portion 11a on the lower surface. The flat surface portion 11a has rigidity such that it comes into contact with the composition on the substrate and imitates the surface shape of the substrate 1. The flat surface portion 11a has the same size as the substrate 1 or a size larger than that of the substrate 1. The mold chuck 12 is supported by the head 13 and has a function of correcting the inclination of the mold 11 around the Z axis. Each of the mold chuck 12 and the head 13 includes an opening through which light (ultraviolet rays) emitted from the light source 24 through the collimator lens is passed. Further, a load cell for measuring the pressing force (imprinting force) of the mold 11 against the composition on the substrate is arranged on the mold chuck 12 or the head 13.

A support column 5 that supports the top plate 6 is arranged on the base surface plate 4. The guide bar 8 penetrates the top plate 6, one end of which is fixed to the guide bar plate 7, and the other end of which is fixed to the head 13. The mold driving unit 9 drives the head 13 in the Z-axis direction via the guide bar 8 to bring the mold 11 held by the mold chuck 12 into contact with the composition on the substrate, or from the composition on the substrate. It is a mechanism that pulls apart. Further, the mold drive unit 9 has a function of driving (moving) the head 13 in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction, and a function of rotationally driving the mold chuck 12 or the head 13 around an axis parallel to the Z-axis direction. Have.

The alignment shelf 14 is suspended from the top plate 6 via the support column 10. A guide bar 8 penetrates the alignment shelf 14. Further, on the alignment shelf 14, for example, a height measuring system (not shown) for measuring the height (flatness) of the substrate 1 held by the chuck 2 by using the oblique incident image shift method is arranged. ing.

The OA scope 21 is supported by the alignment shelf 14. The OA scope 21 is used for global alignment processing that detects alignment marks provided in a plurality of shot regions of the substrate 1 and determines the positions of the plurality of shot regions.

The alignment scope 23 includes an optical system and an imaging system for observing the reference mark provided on the substrate stage 3 and the alignment mark provided on the mold 11. However, if the mold 11 is not provided with the alignment mark, the alignment scope 23 may not be provided. The alignment scope 23 is used for alignment that measures the relative position between the reference mark provided on the substrate stage 3 and the alignment mark provided on the mold 11 and corrects the misalignment. By finding the positional relationship between the mold 11 and the substrate stage 3 by the alignment scope 23 and finding the positional relationship between the substrate stage 3 and the substrate 1 by the OA scope 21, the relative alignment between the mold 11 and the substrate 1 is performed. Can be done.

The droplet supply unit 20 is composed of a dispenser including a discharge port (nozzle) for ejecting an uncured (liquid) composition onto the substrate 1, and drops and arranges (supplies) the composition droplets on the substrate. .. The droplet supply unit 20 employs, for example, a piezojet method, a microsolenoid method, or the like, and can supply a droplet-like composition having a minute volume on a substrate. Further, the number of ejection ports in the droplet supply unit 20 is not limited, and may be one (single nozzle) or may exceed 100. That is, a linear nozzle array may be used, or a plurality of linear nozzle arrays may be combined.

The cleaning unit 33 cleans (cleans) the mold 11 while the mold 11 is held by the mold chuck 12. The cleaning unit 33 removes the composition adhering to the mold 11, particularly the flat surface portion 11a, by pulling the mold 11 away from the cured composition on the substrate. The cleaning unit 33 may wipe off the composition adhering to the mold 11, or may remove the composition adhering to the mold 11 by using UV irradiation, wet cleaning, plasma cleaning, or the like.

The control unit 200 includes a CPU, another processor, a processing unit such as an FPGA, and a storage unit such as a memory, and controls the entire flattening device 100. The control unit 200 functions as a processing unit that comprehensively controls each unit of the flattening device 100 to perform flattening processing. Here, the flattening treatment is a treatment for flattening the composition by bringing the flat surface portion 11a of the mold 11 into contact with the composition on the substrate and making the flat surface portion 11a follow the surface shape of the substrate 1. The flattening process is generally performed on a lot-by-lot basis, that is, on each of a plurality of substrates contained in the same lot.

Next, the flattening process will be outlined with reference to FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (c). In the present embodiment, the process of contacting the composition on the entire surface of the substrate with the mold to flatten the composition will be described, but the composition and the mold on a part of the region of the substrate are brought into contact with each other to form the composition. It may be flattened.

First, as shown in FIG. 2A, a plurality of droplets of the composition IM are dropped from the droplet supply unit 20 onto the substrate 1 on which the base pattern is formed. FIG. 2A shows a state before the composition IM is supplied onto the substrate and the mold 11 is brought into contact with the substrate 11. Next, as shown in FIG. 2B, the composition IM on the substrate is brought into contact with the flat surface portion 11a of the mold 11. FIG. 2B shows a state in which the flat surface portion 11a of the mold 11 is in complete contact with the composition IM on the substrate, and the flat surface portion 11a of the mold 11 follows the surface shape of the substrate 1. Then, in the state shown in FIG. 2B, the composition IM on the substrate is irradiated with light from the light source 24 via the mold 11 to cure the composition IM. Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (c), the mold 11 is pulled away from the cured composition IM on the substrate. This makes it possible to form a flattening layer of the composition IM having a uniform thickness on the entire surface of the substrate 1. FIG. 2C shows a state in which a flattening layer of the composition IM is formed on the substrate.

When performing such a flattening treatment, it is difficult to bring the large-area mold 11 into contact with the composition on the entire surface of the substrate 1 and then peel it off on the entire surface. The larger the contact area, the larger the force (release force) required for peeling. If the mold release force becomes large, the mold release operation itself may not be performed normally, or the composition on the substrate may not be normally flattened.

In order to solve such a problem, in the present embodiment, a large number of composition IMs are dropped on the outer peripheral region of the substrate 1, and the distribution of the composition IM creates a height difference with respect to the inner region of the substrate. Make sure that the mold 11 or the substrate 1 is in a warped state when the mold and the composition come into contact with each other. If it is in a warped state in the outer peripheral region of the substrate 1, it becomes a mold release starting point at which the mold and the composition start to be separated, and the mold can be easily released. Once the peeling of the mold 11 and the substrate 1 is started, the mold release is completed by processing for a sufficient time, and the composition IM having a desired thickness and flatness is obtained.

As shown in FIG. 3, the droplet supply unit 20 comprises a plurality of liquids of the composition IM on the first region 1a including the center position C of the outer shape of the substrate and the second region 1b outside the first region 1a. Place the drops. When the composition IM is dropped, a large amount is dropped on the outer peripheral region of the substrate 1. Specifically, the composition is arranged on the second region 1b so as to be thicker than the composition arranged in the first region 1a by stacking the droplets of the composition on the second region 1b. FIG. 3 shows a state (deposited state) in which the compositions are stacked on the second region 1b. The droplet supply unit 20 scans the second region 1b a plurality of times, or continuously arranges droplets of the composition IM at predetermined positions on the second region 1b to place the droplets of the composition IM in the second region 1b. Stack the composition droplets on top.

When a droplet is dropped onto the first region 1a of the substrate 1, the pattern density (roughness) of the base of the first region 1a and the final flattening layer when the composition IM is flattened by the mold are used. The thickness is calculated to obtain the total dropping amount and dropping position. Further, in the present embodiment, the dropping amount is increased to a width within 2 mm or 3 mm from the outermost peripheral end of the second region 1b of the substrate 1 so as to be several times or more the dropping amount of the first region 1a. Drop into.

Next, a method of creating data of a droplet arrangement pattern for dropping a composition on a substrate, which is used in a flattening apparatus, will be described with reference to FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method of creating data of a droplet arrangement pattern. The data of the droplet arrangement pattern is created in advance by an external computer (information processing device) or a control unit (information processing device) of the flattening device 100. When the external computer creates the data of the droplet arrangement pattern, the control unit of the flattening device 100 acquires the data of the droplet arrangement pattern from the external computer. The information processing apparatus creates data of a first droplet arrangement pattern for dropping the composition by the droplet supply unit 20 on the first region 1a including the center position of the substrate. The first droplet placement pattern includes the density (roughness), pitch, width, etc. of the underlying pattern in the first region 1a, and the final thickness of the flattening layer when the composition IM is flattened by the mold. It is calculated based on the above.

In addition, the droplet supply unit 20 creates data for a second droplet arrangement pattern for dropping the composition onto the second region 1b. The second droplet placement pattern is created to be thicker than the composition placed in the first region 1a by stacking the droplets of the composition on the second region 1b. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, a droplet arrangement pattern is created such that the droplets of the composition are arranged without gaps on the second region 1b. It also creates a droplet pattern when scanning multiple times to stack the droplets of the composition on the second region 1b. Further, a second droplet arrangement pattern may be created such that droplets of the composition IM are continuously ejected at a predetermined position on the second region 1b.

Further, the second droplet arrangement pattern may be created based on the first droplet arrangement pattern. Specifically, the thickness of the composition on the first region 1a when the mold is brought into contact with the composition on the first region 1a dropped based on the first droplet arrangement pattern is obtained. Then, when the mold is brought into contact with the composition on the second region 1b dropped based on the second droplet arrangement pattern, the thickness of the composition in the second region 1b is obtained on the first region 1a. The second droplet arrangement pattern may be created so as to be thicker than the thickness of the composition of.

Next, using the mold of the flattening device 100 or the drive mechanism of the substrate, the composition on the first region 1a and the composition stacked on the second region 1b are brought into contact with the mold to bring them into contact with the first region. The composition on 1a is flattened and then separated from the composition on the first region 1a and the second region 1b.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a state in which the mold 11 and the substrate 1 are in full contact with each other after the composition IM of FIG. 3 is dropped. Since the amount of the composition IM dropped on the outer periphery of the substrate 1 is large, the mold 11 and the substrate 1 are not in a parallel state on the outer periphery of the substrate 1, and the mold 11 is in a warped state. When the mold and the composition on the substrate come into contact with each other, the thickness of the composition IM on the outer peripheral portion of the substrate 1 is set to be several times or more the thickness of the composition IM in the first region 1a, for example, 1 um or more. By releasing the mold in this state, the mold 11 is warped, so that the mold release start point can be easily created. Further, since a large amount of the composition IM is dropped on the outer peripheral portion of the substrate 1, a large amount of the release material existing in the composition adheres to the surface of the mold 11. Therefore, the energy for releasing the composition and the mold in the second region 1b is the same as that for the composition in the second region 1b when the composition is released from the composition in the first region 1a and in the second region 1b. When the above is dropped, the mold release energy becomes smaller than that, and the mold release becomes easier.

The flattening process in the flattening apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIG. As described above, the flattening process is performed by the control unit 200 controlling each unit of the flattening device 100 in an integrated manner.

In S602, the mold 11 is carried into the flattening device 100 by the mold transfer unit 32, and the mold 11 is held by the mold chuck 12. In S604, the setting information regarding the flattening process is acquired. The setting information regarding the flattening process includes information on the density (period, width, etc.) of the underlying pattern already formed in the first region 1a of the substrate 1. Further, the final thickness of the composition IM (thickness at the time of curing), the maximum thickness of the outermost peripheral portion (second region 1b), the width of the outermost peripheral portion where the composition is thickened, and the maximum at the next flattening. It may include how much the maximum thickness of the outer peripheral composition should be increased, and the like.

In S606, among a plurality of substrates included in the same lot, the substrate 1 to be processed is carried into the flattening apparatus 100 by the substrate transport unit 22, and the substrate 1 is held by the chuck 2. In S608, the substrate 1 carried in in S606 is subjected to a flattening process as described with reference to FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (c). However, in the present embodiment, since the compositions are stacked and arranged on the second region 1b, when the mold and the composition come into contact with each other, the mold is in a state of facing upward on the outer periphery as shown in FIG. .. That is, in S608, the first step of arranging a plurality of droplets of the composition on the first region 1a and the second region 1b, and the composition and the mold are brought into contact with each other to flatten the composition and then the composition. By the second step of releasing the mold, the composition on the substrate is flattened using the mold. In the first step, the composition is placed on the second region so as to be thicker than the composition placed in the first region by stacking the droplets of the composition on the second region. In the second step, the composition on the first region and the composition stacked on the second region are brought into contact with the mold, and the composition is cured by irradiating the curing light through the mold. Then, after flattening the composition on the first region, the composition on the first region and the second region and the mold are separated.

In S610, the substrate transport unit 22 carries out the flattened substrate 1 from the chuck 2. In S612, it is determined whether or not all the substrates contained in the same lot have been flattened. When the flattening process is not performed on all the substrates included in the same lot, the process shifts to S606 in order to arrange the substrate 1 to be processed next on the chuck 2. On the other hand, when the flattening process is performed on all the substrates included in the same lot, the process proceeds to S614.

In S614, the cleaning unit 33 cleans the mold 11 held by the mold chuck 12. That is, the composition adhering to the flat surface portion 11a of the mold 11 is removed. In S616, the washed mold 11 is carried out from the flattening device 100 by the mold transport unit 32.

Further, in the present embodiment, the following special treatment can be performed on the mold 11 and the substrate 1 side after the mold is released. Since a large number of composition IMs are dropped on the outermost peripheral portion of the substrate 1 on the substrate 1 side, there is a high possibility that the composition IM adheres to the mold 11 after mold release. Therefore, at the time of the next flattening treatment of the substrate 1, the dropping amount of the composition IM on the outermost periphery of the substrate 1 is increased so that the deposits already adhering to the mold do not hinder the flattening treatment. That is, the number of the droplets is larger than the number of droplets ejected by the droplet supply unit 20 with respect to the previous substrate and arranged in the second region 1b.

On the substrate 1 side after mold release, a solidified composition IM of several um or more remains on the outer peripheral portion of the substrate 1. FIG. 6A is a diagram showing the composition IM on the substrate 1 after mold release. Since the composition IM of the second region 1b of the substrate 1 has a thicker shape than the IM of the first region 1a, when the composition IM is dropped onto the second region 1b of the substrate 1, or the mold and the composition are in contact with each other. There is a possibility that the composition IM squeezes out (exudes) 400 from the outer peripheral end of the substrate 1 when the composition IM is allowed to squeeze out.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, the EBR (Edge Bead Remote) treatment is performed in the flattening device 100 or in the coating device. EBR is a well-known process performed in the resist coating process of the photolithography process, in order to remove the chemical solution (composition) on the outer peripheral portion of the substrate from the substrate after the resist (composition) has been applied to the substrate. This is a step of peeling off the composition only on the outer peripheral portion of the substrate using a rinsing solution. FIG. 6B is a diagram showing a composition on a substrate 1 at the time of EBR processing in an external device such as a flattening device 100 or a coating device. With the rinse nozzle 500, the thick composition IM on the outer peripheral portion of the substrate 1 is rinsed and removed by using the rinse liquid 501.

FIG. 6 (c) is the composition IM on the substrate 1 after EBR. The thick composition IM on the outer peripheral portion of the substrate 1 is almost removed. The shape of the composition after removal is the same as that of the EBR of photolithography used in normal production. In the present embodiment, only the portion on the outer peripheral portion of the substrate 1 on which a large number of composition IMs are dropped is peeled off, and the substrate is conveyed to the next step.

In this embodiment, the flattening process for all the substrates 1 contained in the same lot is completed, and the mold 11 is washed before the mold 11 is carried out from the flattening device 100, but the present invention is limited to this. It's not something. For example, the mold 11 may be washed even if the flattening process has not been completed for all the substrates 1 contained in the same lot. Further, when the flattening device 100 includes a detection unit for detecting the adhesion state of the composition on the flat surface portion 11a of the mold 11, the mold 11 may be washed according to the detection result of the detection unit. good.

Although the flattening device is described in this embodiment, it can also be applied to batch imprinting in which the entire surface of the substrate is collectively imprinted using a mold on which a pattern is formed. Further, although the photocuring method is described, it can also be applied to a thermosetting method.

(Product manufacturing method)
Next, a method of manufacturing an article (semiconductor IC element, liquid crystal display element, color filter, MEMS, etc.) using the above-mentioned flattening device or flattening method will be described. In the manufacturing method, the composition placed on a substrate (wafer, glass substrate, etc.) is brought into contact with a mold to be flattened by using the above-mentioned flattening device, and the composition is cured to form the composition and the mold. Including the step of releasing. Then, by processing the substrate having the flattened composition by a process such as forming a pattern using a lithography device and processing the processed substrate by another well-known processing process, the article is manufactured. Is manufactured. Other well-known steps include etching, resist stripping, dicing, bonding, packaging and the like. According to this manufacturing method, it is possible to manufacture a high-quality article as compared with the conventional method.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the gist thereof.

Claims (13)

In a flattening device that flattens the composition on a substrate using a mold.
A droplet supply unit for arranging a plurality of droplets of the composition on a first region including the center position of the substrate and a second region outside the first region.
It has a mechanism for bringing the composition into contact with the mold arranged by the droplet supply unit to flatten the composition and then separating the composition from the mold.
The droplet supply unit arranges the composition on the second region so as to be thicker than the composition arranged in the first region by stacking the droplets of the composition on the second region.
The mechanism brings the composition on the first region and the composition stacked on the second region into contact with the mold to flatten the composition on the first region, and then the first. A flattening device comprising separating the mold from the composition on one region and the second region. The claim is characterized in that when the composition on the first region is flattened, the composition on the second region is brought into contact with the composition on the first region in a state where the mold is bent upward. The flattening device according to 1. The flatness according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the mold is separated from the composition, the mold is released from the composition on the second region and then the mold is released from the composition on the first region. Chemical equipment. The droplet supply unit stacks the droplets of the composition on the second region by scanning the second region a plurality of times or continuously arranging the droplets of the composition at a predetermined position. The flattening apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The flattening device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the second region is a region having a predetermined width from the outer periphery of the substrate. The flattening device according to claim 5, wherein the predetermined width is a width of 3 mm or less. The flattening according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first region is a region in which a pattern is already formed, and the second region is a region in which a pattern is not formed. Device. In the droplet supply section, the composition is arranged on the entire surface of the substrate, and the composition is arranged.
The mechanism is characterized in that the composition on the entire surface of the substrate is brought into contact with the mold to flatten the composition in the first region, and then the composition and the mold on the entire surface of the substrate are separated from each other. The flattening device according to any one of 7 to 7. It has a processing unit that creates data of a droplet arrangement pattern for dropping a composition on a substrate.
The processing unit creates data of the droplet arrangement pattern in the first region and the second region based on the pattern formed on the substrate.
The one according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the droplet supply unit arranges a droplet of the composition on the substrate based on the created data of the droplet arrangement pattern. Flattening device. The flattening apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the composition on the second region is removed after the mold is separated from the composition on the second region. In a flattening method of flattening a composition on a substrate using a mold,
The first step of arranging a plurality of droplets of the composition on the first region including the center position of the substrate and the second region outside the first region, and the first step.
It has a second step of bringing the arranged composition into contact with the mold to flatten the composition and then separating the composition from the mold.
In the first step, the composition is placed on the second region so as to be thicker than the composition placed in the first region by stacking droplets of the composition on the second region.
In the second step, the composition on the first region and the composition stacked on the second region are brought into contact with the mold to flatten the composition on the first region. , A flattening method comprising separating the mold from the composition on the first region and the second region. A step of flattening the composition of the substrate by using the flattening method according to claim 11.
The process of processing a substrate having a flattened composition and
A method of manufacturing an article, which comprises obtaining the article from a treated substrate. In a creation method for creating data of a droplet arrangement pattern for dropping a composition on a substrate in a flattening device for flattening the composition on the substrate using a mold.
A step of creating data of a first droplet placement pattern for arranging the composition on the first region including the center position of the substrate, and
It comprises a step of creating data of a second droplet placement pattern for arranging the composition on the second region outside the first region.
The second droplet arrangement pattern is created so as to be thicker than the composition arranged in the first region by stacking droplets of the composition on the second region. Method.

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