KR101250786B1 - Method of scan operating in semiconductor equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a scan driving method of a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a method of performing key alignment and scan driving together in a semiconductor device using a scan driving method. In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a scan driving method of a semiconductor device includes: a first alignment key formed on one of a mask and a substrate and oriented in a direction parallel to the scan direction, and formed on another of the mask and the substrate; The second alignment key may be aligned in the parallel direction, and the misalignment may be corrected even during the scan driving by using the second alignment key which tries to align with the first alignment key.

Scan Drive, Scan Exposure, Scan Check, Align, Key

Description

Scan driving method of semiconductor equipment {METHOD OF SCAN OPERATING IN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT}

Figure 1a is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional scan drive type exposure equipment.

FIG. 1B shows various alignment keys used in conventional scan drives. FIG.

2A is a conceptual diagram showing a key alignment step in a conventional scan drive type exposure apparatus.

Figure 2b is a flow chart showing the step of performing a scan exposure in a conventional scan drive type exposure apparatus.

Figure 3 is a view showing the shape of the alignment key provided on the mask and the substrate in the scanning exposure apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4a is a plan view showing a state in which the scan drive in the scan exposure equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4B is an enlarged view illustrating the circular portion of FIG. 4A;

******** Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings ********

11 mask 12 glass substrate

200: first alignment key 300: second alignment key

The present invention relates to a method for driving a scan of a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a method for driving a scan of a semiconductor device in which equipment investment costs and production costs are reduced by performing a scan drive while simultaneously identifying an alignment key.

In general, a semiconductor product forms a thin film having inherent characteristics on the upper surface of a substrate, applies a photoresist on the thin film, then performs exposure using an exposure apparatus, and then repeats the process of performing a continuous thin film process. Are manufactured.

Semiconductor products manufactured through such a process have been widely applied in various fields because it is possible to store a very large amount of data per unit area and process stored data in a short time.

Among the semiconductor equipments required to manufacture such semiconductor products, various driving equipments require the most critical specifications in terms of precision, and their price accounts for the largest portion of equipment investment.

In manufacturing a semiconductor product using such a driving device, one of the important processes, the exposure process is one of the stepper (scanper) method or the scan method currently used mainly.

The stepper method selects a plurality of fields on a substrate, exposes the corresponding fields through the exposure area of the reduction projection lens, and sequentially moves to other unexposed fields to perform exposure and step (repeat and repeat). It is proposed as an alternative to the conventional equal projection exposure method.

This method has the advantage of being able to process with one exposure when one alignment key is detected for one entire field, so that the overlay accuracy is high, but the entire substrate composed of multiple fields In order to expose, the exposure process had to be repeated several times.

If the stepper method is to adjust the amount of light irradiated to the substrate while the substrate and the mask are stopped, the exposure area of the substrate is increased by allowing the substrate and the mask to perform exposure while moving in opposite directions at a constant speed ratio. As an alternative to the stepper method, a scan method has been widely applied when manufacturing a display device requiring a large screen.

FIG. 1A is a schematic diagram of a conventional scan type exposure apparatus for manufacturing an LCD panel.

The scanning exposure apparatus 100 basically reduces and projects an illumination system 110 that generates light having a predetermined wavelength, a mask stage 120 on which the mask 130 is placed, and light generated by the illumination system 110. And the projection optical system 140, the substrate stage 150 on which the substrate 160 is placed, and a controller for controlling them.

The control device may include a mask stage controller 170 that controls a scan speed and a position alignment of the mask stage 120, a scan stage and a position alignment of the substrate stage 150, and a substrate stage controller 190. The main stage controller 180 controls the mask stage controller 170 and the substrate stage controller 190.

Looking at the operation configuration of the conventional scanning method exposure apparatus having such a configuration as follows.

First, when the slit-shaped light generated in the illumination system 110 is scanned into the mask 130 placed in the mask stage 120 positioned below the illumination system 110, the mask 130 is seated on the mask stage 120. It is fixed and then driven in the Y direction, and thus the light emitted from the illumination system 110 transfers the thin film pattern formed on the mask 130 to the lower portion of the mask 130.

When the transferred light is transferred to the substrate stage 150 which is driven in the opposite direction (-Y direction) to the mask stage 120 via the projection optical system 140, the transferred light is transferred to the substrate on the substrate stage 150. The exposure process to the substrate is performed by exposing to 160 in a scan manner.

That is, when the light is emitted in the slit shape from the illumination system 110, the mask stage 120 having the mask 130 and the substrate stage 150 having the substrate 160 placed in the opposite direction ( In the Y direction and the -Y direction), the pattern of the mask 130 is scanned on the substrate 160.

FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating the shape of various alignment keys used in a conventional scan driving device. A cross shape, a square shape, an inclined cross shape, an inclined square shape, a short stripe shape, and the like are used. These alignment keys are arranged in a male and female form on the mask and the substrate, and after the keys arranged on the mask and the substrate are aligned with each other, scan driving is performed.

The alignment keys shown in Fig. 1B are suitable for aligning the substrate and the mask with each other when the substrate and the mask are at rest from each other, but as a form for alignment during scan driving, that is, when the substrate or the mask is moving with each other. Inadequate

2A to 2B are views showing some of the process steps of a conventional scan exposure apparatus using the above-described alignment keys.

Referring to this, first, a wafer for forming a predetermined pattern is loaded in a scan exposure apparatus, and an alignment process is performed using a first alignment key formed on a substrate and a second alignment key formed on a mask. Thereafter, the scan exposure process is performed while the substrate and the mask move in opposite directions.

The operating sequence of such a scan drive as described above,

1. Recognize the sort key

2. Aligning the wafer by correcting the posture of the substrate or mask using the recognized alignment key

3. Scan driving process (scan exposure, scan inspection, scan application, etc.)

4. Move

5. 1 to 4 repetitions

If there is trembling on the substrate or misalignment occurs due to abnormal operation of the drive system during the scan driving of the third step of the above process, The error will be corrected.

That is, after all the processes are finished, the process results are checked through a separate inspection process, and then the corrective action is taken to correct the error by reflecting the results on the scan driving equipment again.

Therefore, in the case of the conventional scan drive device, since a periodic check / correction process is required, there is a disadvantage in that the run time of the device is lowered, and expensive to have high precision to secure drive accuracy. There was a problem to secure the scan drive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and can be implemented with high-end equipment performance even with low-end equipment, and can reduce equipment investment costs and improve production capacity of semiconductor equipment. The purpose is to provide a scan driving method.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a scan driving method of a semiconductor device includes: a first alignment key formed in one of a mask and a substrate and oriented in a direction parallel to the scan direction; The second alignment key is formed on the other of the mask and the substrate and is oriented in a direction parallel to the scan direction, and the misalignment can be corrected even during the scan driving by using the second alignment key which tries to align with the first alignment key. .

Hereinafter, a scan driving method of a semiconductor device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 is a diagram illustrating an alignment key according to an embodiment of the present invention, with reference to this description will be described an embodiment of the present invention.

First, FIG. 3 shows a substrate, a first alignment key 200 formed on the substrate, a mask, and a second alignment key 300 formed on the mask.

Since the present invention is applied to a semiconductor device employing a scan driving method, in FIG. 3, the substrate or the mask moves in opposite directions. For convenience, it is assumed that the substrate moves downward and the mask moves upward in FIG. 3.

As shown in FIG. 3, the first alignment key 200 formed on the substrate has a stripe shape oriented parallel to the scan driving direction, and two stripe keys are paired together.

The pair of patterns are arranged on the left and right sides of the exposure area, respectively, and it can be seen that the pair consists of two pairs in total. In addition, the first alignment key 200 has a length corresponding to a distance driven by scanning in the first direction (vertical direction in FIG. 3).

The second alignment key 300 formed on the mask also has a stripe shape and is oriented parallel to the scan driving direction, so that the second alignment key 300 may attempt to align with the first alignment key 200.

That is, in the second alignment key 300, one key having a stripe shape is disposed at the left and right sides of the exposure area, so that the first alignment key 200 may be arranged to fit with the first alignment key 200.

When the scan driving is performed while the first alignment key and the second alignment key are provided, the exposure process is performed while the substrate moves downward and the mask moves upward. The first alignment key 200 and the second alignment key Since the 300 has a stripe shape suitable for the scan driving, the 300 may detect and correct a misalignment even during the scan driving.

That is, since the first alignment key 200 has a length as long as the scan driving in the first direction, the first alignment key 200 continuously tries to align with the second alignment key 300 while the scan driving is performed in the first direction. The misalignment can be detected.

As a method of detecting misalignment, there may be a method of recognizing misalignment with an image using a CCD camera or the like, or detecting misalignment by detecting light leaked due to misalignment of the first and second alignment keys. You may.

In this case, as a method of detecting the leaked light, the light sensor may be detected or light leaked through a camera such as a CCD may be detected.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 3, the first alignment key 200 is formed on the substrate, and the second alignment key 300 is formed on the mask. The second alignment key 300 may be formed on the substrate.

3 illustrates a first alignment key and a second alignment key corresponding to the two pairs of patterns, the first alignment key and the second alignment key may be implemented in other forms. For example, the first alignment key may consist of one stripe, and the second alignment key may consist of another stripe that attempts to align with the first alignment key.

Alternatively, the first alignment key may be implemented in three or more pairs of patterns, and the second alignment key may also be implemented in a corresponding pattern.

4A is a diagram illustrating a scan driving method according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which scan driving and key alignment are simultaneously performed using the first and second alignment keys of FIG. 3.

That is, the scan driving is performed while the substrate and the mask move in opposite directions, and the key alignment using the first alignment key and the second alignment key is also performed.

4B is an enlarged view of the circular portion of FIG. 4A and illustrates a case in which misalignment occurs. If a misalignment occurs, it may be recognized as an image by a CCD camera, image processing thereof, and judged as misalignment, and then an attitude control command for correcting misalignment may be instructed to the drive mount.

Alternatively, in the case of the misalignment illustrated in FIG. 4B, since light leaks between misaligned gaps, the misalignment may be detected by detecting the leaked light with a detector, or the misalignment may be determined by recognizing the leaked light as an image through a CCD camera. You may.

When the scan driving device is a scan exposure device, since the scan exposure proceeds while reading the alignment keys formed on the mask and the substrate continuously during the scan exposure, data on misalignment is used in real time to control the attitude of the mask or the substrate. Can be.

That is, conventionally, after all the processes are completed, the data obtained through the separate inspection process is fed back to the scan driving device, and the scan driving device is driven again using the same to obtain the correct process result.

However, according to the present invention, the misalignment is continuously detected even while the scan driving is in progress, and the detected misalignment related data can be used immediately for the attitude control of the substrate or the mask, so that the scan driving can be performed while correcting the error at that time. Can be. In addition, when a misalignment occurs to a certain degree or more, the process may be stopped after determining that the substrate is defective.

In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a scan exposure apparatus is described as an example of a scan driving apparatus, but the present invention is applicable to most semiconductor apparatuses to which a scan driving scheme is applied in addition to the scan exposure apparatus. That is, the present invention may be applied to a scan exposure apparatus, a scan coating apparatus, a scan inspection apparatus, a sputter of a magnet driving method, and the like.

Many details are set forth in the foregoing description but should be construed as illustrative of preferred embodiments rather than to limit the scope of the invention. Therefore, the invention should not be construed as limited to the embodiments described, but should be determined by equivalents to the appended claims and the claims.

According to the present invention, correction of misalignment can be performed even during a scan driving, so that even a low specification device can realize the performance of a high specification device, and further, a reduction in equipment investment cost and an improvement in process capability can be obtained.

Claims (9)

In the scan driving method of a semiconductor device, A first alignment key formed on either the mask and the substrate and oriented in a direction parallel to the scanning direction; The misalignment between the first alignment key and the second alignment key is formed on the other one of the mask and the substrate and is oriented in a direction parallel to the scan direction, using a second alignment key that tries to align with the first alignment key. Scan driving method of a semiconductor device, characterized in that for detecting the light leakage due to the correction for misalignment even during the scan drive. The scan driving method of claim 1, wherein the first and second alignment keys have a stripe shape. delete The method of claim 1, wherein the leaked light is sensed as an image. The method of claim 1, And recognizing the misalignment between the first alignment key and the second alignment key as an image and correcting the misalignment even during the scan driving. delete The method of claim 1, wherein the semiconductor equipment A scan exposure method, a scan coating device, a scan inspection device, a scan driving method of a semiconductor device, characterized in that any one of a magnet drive sputter (sputter). The method according to any one of claims 2, 4, 5 and 7, One of the alignment keys of the first alignment key and the second alignment key has a pair of stripe shapes spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, and the other alignment key has a stripe shape located between the pair of alignment keys. Scan drive method of a semiconductor device characterized in that it has. The method of claim 2, Wherein the first alignment key or the second alignment key has a length corresponding to a distance driven by the scan in the first direction.

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