JPH0770459B2 - Exposure apparatus and semiconductor manufacturing apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus which is used when a mask pattern is printed on a semiconductor wafer in a manufacturing process of a semiconductor integrated circuit and which uses the exposure apparatus. is there.

[Prior Art] In a photolithography process, which is one of manufacturing processes of semiconductor integrated circuits, a circuit pattern of a photomask is transferred to a semiconductor wafer by using an exposure apparatus. In recent years, semiconductor integrated circuits have become more highly integrated, and accordingly, high precision is also required for fine pattern printing accuracy of an exposure apparatus.

For the above reasons, recently, the use of short-wavelength light as a light source has made it possible to deal with fine patterning. Currently, g-line (wavelength 43 mm) of Hg (mercury) lamp is generally used.
Ultraviolet light such as 6 nm) or i-line (wavelength 365 nm) is used as the light source of the exposure apparatus.

In addition, recently, in order to respond to the further improvement of integration,
Attention has been focused on pulse oscillation type lasers, and sometimes excimer lasers, which output ultraviolet light having a much higher intensity than the ultraviolet light.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] An excimer laser device oscillates a laser by applying energy to a laser medium of a mixture of halogen and a rare gas by electric discharge. Therefore, in order to use the excimer laser device, a facility for supplying a gas such as halogen at a high pressure, a facility for generating a high voltage necessary for discharging, etc. are required.

For this reason, the excimer laser device becomes a considerably large-scale device as a whole when the gas piping system of the used gas is included. Moreover, since high-pressure toxic gas is used, caution is required to ensure its safety. Further, in the excimer laser device, noise generated due to discharge may affect surrounding devices, and dust or the like is generated during operation or maintenance.

On the other hand, since the construction cost of the clean room where exposure is performed is high, it is necessary to use the space as effectively as possible. In addition, since the clean room is a closed room, its safety requires careful attention. Furthermore, many precision devices sensitive to noise are operating in the clean room, and attention must be paid to noise countermeasures. In addition, since clean rooms inevitably dislike dust, equipment that produces dust should be avoided as much as possible.

For this reason, when the excimer laser device is installed as a part of the exposure device in a clean room or the like as a light source, it occupies a required space in the clean room and creates a new danger in the clean room.
There have been problems that various inconveniences such as generation of noise and dust and difficulty of maintenance occur.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, a space in a clean room or the like, safety,
An object of the present invention is to provide an exposure apparatus that does not cause problems such as noise, dust, and maintenance, that is, can effectively utilize a clean room, and a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus using such an exposure apparatus.

[Means for Solving Problems] In an exposure apparatus according to the present invention, a laser device as a light source is arranged in a first room, and an exposure unit is provided in a second room (first room) different from the first room. The above problem is solved by providing an exposing means which is disposed in a room separate from one room) and guides the laser light output from the laser light source to the exposing section.

Furthermore, the present invention is applied to a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus that uses an excimer laser light source that supplies a laser beam in the ultraviolet range to an exposure apparatus that transfers a mask pattern onto a semiconductor wafer, and the exposure apparatus main body (S ₁ ~ S _n ) and install the excimer laser light source (2a,
2b, 2c) and the toxic gas supply equipment used for them, and a reflection system (mirror) that forms an optical path that guides the laser light output from the excimer laser light source to the main body of the exposure apparatus in the clean room. System).

[Operation] In the present invention, the laser device as the light source is arranged in the first room, and the exposure unit is arranged in the second room different from the first room, and the laser emitted from the laser light source is arranged. By providing a light guide means for guiding light to the exposure section,
Since only the exposure unit needs to be installed in the clean room, the space occupied in the clean room can be small. Further, since the high-pressure toxic gas piping and the like are placed outside the clean room, there is no new danger in the clean room due to the laser device. Furthermore, the noise and dust generated by the laser light source do not affect other devices in the clean room. In addition, maintenance of the laser device can be performed outside the clean room, which is extremely easy.

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the first embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, n exposure units S _{1 to} S _n including a mask or reticle, a projection optical system, and a wafer are arranged in a clean chamber or clean room 12. These exposed parts S ₁
~ S _n is a bundle of n optical fibers L ₁ as a part of the light guiding means.
Through L _n , they are each optically connected to a cylindrical lens 10 provided at an appropriate position outside the clean room 12.

Next, outside the clean room 12, the laser devices 2a, 2b
Are arranged respectively, and on the laser light output side of these,
Fixed reflecting mirrors 4 and 6 and a movable reflecting mirror 8 rotatable by 90 ° as shown by a dotted line are arranged.

The laser beams output from the laser devices 2a and 2b enter the fixed reflection mirrors 4 and 6, respectively, are reflected there, and enter the movable reflection mirror 8.

Here, for example, when the laser light output from the laser device 2a is incident on the cylindrical lens 10, the movable reflection mirror 8
Is set to the position indicated by the solid line in the figure, and when the laser light output from the laser device 2b is incident, the movable reflection mirror 8 is moved to the position indicated by the broken line in the figure to selectively output the laser light output from the two laser devices. It is configured so that it can be used.

Next, the operation of the exposure apparatus of the above embodiment will be described.

First, one of the two laser devices 2a and 2b
A table, for example 2a, is laser-oscillated, and the laser light is reflected by the fixed reflection mirror 4 and the movable reflection mirror 8 as shown in the figure, and is made incident on the cylindrical lens 10. By this cylindrical lens 10, the laser light becomes a beam having a slit (or sheet-like) cross section extending in one direction at its focal point. Next, the laser beam is centrally arranged in the longitudinal direction of the sheet-like beam formed by the cylindrical lens 10 in the clean room 12, and each incident end face of the optically connected optical fiber bundles L _{1 to} L _n. To the n exposure units S _{1 to} S _n by the respective optical fiber bundles.

As described above, the laser light is supplied from the laser light source placed outside the clean room 12 to the n exposure units in the clean room 12, and the exposure operation is performed in each exposure unit.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, two laser devices 2a and 2b are used.
Can be selectively used by rotating the movable reflecting mirror 8 by 90 °.

On the other hand, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, three laser devices 2a, 2
Laser beams output from b and 2c are selectively used alternately. By providing three movable reflection mirrors 8, a laser device that can be used as compared with the case where two laser devices are used. The number of light sources is increased by one.

Generally, according to the configuration of the mirror system as described above, for example, when N laser devices are used, the required number of movable reflecting mirrors corresponds to the number of laser devices other than the two laser devices at both ends, That is, it is the sum of (N-2) and the number corresponding to the number of intervals of the N laser devices, that is, (N-1), and eventually (2N-3) movable units with respect to the N laser devices. It means that the reflection mirror 8 is not provided.

As a result, the number of usable laser light sources is (N-1). When n exposure units are associated with each laser light source, it is possible to supply laser light to a total of (N-1) · n exposure units.

With such a configuration, even if the laser light is continuously supplied to the (N-1) · n exposure units, one laser device can be stopped at all times. , Even if one laser device cannot be used due to problems such as replacement of windows, electrodes, etc.
The exposure can be continuously performed without interruption. As described above, in the first and second embodiments, the pulsed laser light from the laser device is simultaneously sent to the plurality of exposure units.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

In the figure, 14 is a Borgone mirror, and the laser light output from, for example, 2b of the two laser devices 2a and 2b is incident on the polygon mirror 14 via the fixed reflection mirror 4 and the movable reflection mirror 8.

Then, the laser light, where it can change the angle of the optical axis is incident on the end face of any fiber optic bundle of the optical fiber bundles L ₁ ~L _n arranged in one direction, transmission to the corresponding exposed portion of the clean room 12 To be

When the laser light is made to enter a predetermined optical fiber bundle, the rotation angle of the polygon mirror 14 is controlled so that the laser light is made to properly enter each optical fiber bundle. Alternatively, it can be combined with a known f-θ lens.

Further, since the excimer laser light is pulsed light emission, an appropriate synchronization means is used so that the deflection of the laser light by the polygon mirror and the timing of pulsed light emission are synchronized so that the emitted light pulse always enters one of the end faces of the optical fiber bundle. Is desirable. Generally, the excimer laser light source can be externally triggered, so that synchronization can be achieved by detecting that a predetermined deflection angle has been reached and triggering.

Further, it is preferable that the laser device performs oscillation control so that laser light is obtained only during exposure, for example, oscillation is performed only during exposure. In this case, the exposure request signal is output from each exposure unit, and laser oscillation may be performed only when the logical sum of them is established.

By the way, although the case where the polygon mirror is used is shown in the present embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a galvano mirror, a vibrating mirror or the like may be used.

In each of the embodiments, an optical fiber is used as the light guide means to introduce the laser light to the exposed portion in the clean room.However, without using these, the laser light is introduced into the exposed portion in the clean room only by the mirror system or the like. It goes without saying that it is possible to supply light.

In each of the above embodiments, the laser light source is installed outside the clean room, and the example in which the exposure unit is installed in the clean room is shown. However, the invention is not limited to this. For example, even when the laser light source is installed in the clean room, You may make it install only an exposure part in a clean chamber with a higher degree of cleanliness.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As described above, the present invention arranges the laser device as the light source in the first room, and arranges the exposure unit in the second room different from the first room. Since the exposure unit can be made compact by providing the light guide means for guiding the laser beam output from the exposure unit to the exposure unit,
This has the effect of not taking up extra valuable space in a clean room or the like.

Moreover, since the high-pressure toxic gas pipes and the like are installed outside the clean room, there is an effect that no new danger due to the laser device in the clean room is generated.

Further, there is an effect that it is possible to prevent noise and dust generated by the laser device from affecting the inside of a clean room or the like, and to easily perform maintenance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a main part of a second embodiment, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment. [Explanation of symbols of main parts] 2a, 2b, 2c ... laser device, 4, 6 ... fixed reflection mirror,
8 ... Movable single-sided mirror, 10 ... Cylindrical lens,
12 …… Clean room, 14 …… Polygon mirror (rotation), L _{1 to} L _n …… Optical fiber bundle, S _{1 to} S _n …… Exposure unit

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. An exposure apparatus that uses laser light output from a laser apparatus as a light source of an exposure section main body, wherein the laser apparatus is disposed in a first room, and the exposure section main body is provided in the first room. An exposure apparatus, which is arranged in a different second room, and is provided with a light guide unit that guides laser light output from the laser apparatus to the exposure unit main body. 2. The exposure apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the laser device is a pulse oscillation type laser light source. 3. The light guide means includes a cylindrical lens that receives laser light output from a laser device, and an optical fiber that guides the laser light collected by the cylindrical lens to an exposure unit main body. The exposure apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. 4. The light guiding means includes a deflecting mirror which changes the angle of the optical axis of the laser light output from the laser device and sends the laser light to the exposure section main body.
The exposure apparatus according to Item 2 or Item 2. 5. The scope of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first room is a clean room and the second room is a clean chamber having a higher degree of cleanliness than the clean room. Exposure equipment. 6. A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus having an exposure apparatus for transferring a circuit pattern of a mask onto a semiconductor wafer, and an excimer laser light source for supplying ultraviolet laser light to the exposure apparatus, wherein the exposure apparatus is Installed in a clean room, the excimer laser light source and a toxic gas supply facility used for the light source are installed outside the clean room, and the laser light output from the excimer laser light source to the exposure device in the clean room A semiconductor manufacturing apparatus comprising a reflection system for forming an optical path for guiding. 7. A sixth excimer laser light source that is replaceable with the excimer laser light source that supplies laser light to the exposure apparatus is installed outside the clean room. The semiconductor manufacturing apparatus described. 8. The semiconductor device according to claim 6, wherein the excimer laser light source oscillates laser in response to an exposure request signal output by an exposure device installed in the clean room. Manufacturing equipment.