KR102327826B1 - Imprint apparatus, imprint method, and article manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

An imprint apparatus advantageous in terms of throughput is provided. An imprint apparatus for forming a pattern of an imprint material on a shot region of a substrate by using a mold having a pattern region, includes a deformable portion deforming at least one of the pattern region and the shot region, and a position of the pattern region and the shot region a measurement unit for measuring the amount of misalignment, and in a state in which the mold and the imprint material on the substrate are in contact, the mold and and a control unit for controlling the relative position of the substrate, wherein the control unit estimates a relative shape change amount between the pattern region and the shot region that may occur due to the control of the relative position, and based on the estimated shape change amount to control the deformation part.

Description

Imprint apparatus, imprint method, and manufacturing method of an article {IMPRINT APPARATUS, IMPRINT METHOD, AND ARTICLE MANUFACTURING METHOD}

The present invention relates to an imprint apparatus, an imprint method, and a method for manufacturing an article.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART An imprint apparatus which forms the pattern of an imprint material on a board|substrate using a mold attracts attention as one of the lithographic apparatus for mass production, such as a semiconductor device. In the imprint apparatus, in order to accurately transfer the pattern of the mold to the imprint material on the substrate, the mold and the substrate may be aligned in a state in which the mold and the imprint material on the substrate are in contact (hereinafter referred to as contact state). Patent Document 1 discloses a method of aligning the mold and the substrate in a state in which the mold and the imprint material on the substrate are brought into contact with each other.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-137051

In the alignment of the mold and the substrate, a measurement step of measuring the amount and shape difference between the mold and the substrate, and a correction step of correcting the relative position and the relative shape of the mold and the substrate based on the measured amount and shape difference This is repeated. In addition, in the imprint apparatus, it is preferable from the viewpoint of throughput to reduce the number of repetitions of the measurement process and the correction process.

However, if the relative position of the mold and the substrate is changed in the contact state, a force is generated to return the relative position of the mold and the substrate to the original state due to the viscoelasticity of the imprint material, and a change in the relative shape of the mold and the substrate is newly generated. Therefore, in the correction process, only by correcting the relative position and the relative shape based on the amount of position shift and the shape difference measured in the measurement process, it is desirable to reduce the number of repetitions of the measurement process and the correction process and improve the throughput. It can be difficult.

Then, an object of this invention is to provide the imprint apparatus which is advantageous from a viewpoint of throughput.

In order to achieve the above object, an imprint apparatus as an aspect of the present invention is an imprint apparatus for forming a pattern of an imprint material on a shot area of a substrate using a mold having a pattern area, wherein at least one of the pattern area and the shot area is provided. In a state in which a deformation portion deforms one side, a measurement portion for measuring the amount of position shift between the pattern region and the shot region, and the mold and the imprint material on the substrate are in contact, based on the measurement result by the measurement portion , a control unit for controlling a relative position between the mold and the substrate so that a positional shift between the pattern region and the shot region is corrected, wherein the control unit includes: Estimate a relative shape change amount of the shot region, and control the deformable portion based on the estimated shape change amount.

Additional objects or other aspects of the present invention will be clarified by preferred embodiments described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the imprint apparatus which is advantageous from a viewpoint of throughput, for example can be provided.

1 is a diagram illustrating an imprint apparatus.
2 is a flowchart illustrating an imprint process.
Fig. 3 is a diagram for explaining the correction of the position shift amount and the shape difference.
4 is a diagram for explaining the occurrence of a shape change.
5 is a diagram for explaining the occurrence of a shape change.
Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing control of position alignment between the mold and the substrate.
7 is a diagram showing measurement timing by the measurement unit, correction timing of the position shift amount by the substrate stage, and correction timing of shape difference by the deformation unit.
Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing control of position alignment between the mold and the substrate.
9 is a diagram illustrating a method of manufacturing an article.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Hereinafter, with reference to an accompanying drawing, preferred embodiment of this invention is described. In addition, in each figure, about the same member thru|or element, the same reference number is attached|subjected, and overlapping description is abbreviate|omitted. In the following embodiments, directions parallel to the surface of the substrate (direction along the surface of the substrate) are referred to as the X direction and Y direction, and the direction perpendicular to the surface of the substrate (optical axis direction of light incident on the substrate) is the Z direction. it is said

<First embodiment>

An imprint apparatus 10 of a first embodiment according to the present invention will be described. The imprint apparatus is an apparatus for forming a pattern of a cured product onto which the concavo-convex pattern of the die is transferred by bringing an imprint material supplied on a substrate into contact with a die and applying curing energy to the imprint material. For example, in the imprint apparatus, the imprint material is cured in a state in which a mold (mold) having an uneven pattern formed thereon is brought into contact with the imprint material on the substrate, the gap between the mold and the substrate is widened, and the mold is removed from the cured imprint material. Peel (release). Thereby, the pattern of the imprint material can be formed on the board|substrate.

As the imprint material, a curable composition (sometimes referred to as uncured resin) that is cured by applying curing energy is used. As energy for hardening, electromagnetic waves, heat, etc. are used. As an electromagnetic wave, the wavelength is light, such as infrared rays, a visible light, and an ultraviolet-ray selected from the range of 10 nm or more and 1 mm or less, for example.

A curable composition is a composition hardened|cured by irradiation of light or by heating. Among these, the photocurable composition hardened|cured by light contains a polymeric compound and a photoinitiator at least, and may contain a nonpolymerizable compound or a solvent as needed. The non-polymerizable compound is at least one selected from the group consisting of a sensitizer, a hydrogen donor, an internal addition type mold release agent, a surfactant, an antioxidant, and a polymer component.

The imprint material is applied in the form of a film onto the substrate by a spin coater or a slit coater. Alternatively, the liquid jet head may give a droplet shape or an island shape or a film shape formed by connecting a plurality of droplets to be provided on the substrate. The viscosity (viscosity in 25 degreeC) of the imprint material is 1 mPa*s or more and 100 mPa*s or less, for example.

[Configuration of the imprint device]

1 is a diagram illustrating an imprint apparatus 10 according to a first embodiment. The imprint apparatus 10 includes, for example, a mold holding unit 3 holding the mold 1 , a substrate stage 4 holding the substrate 2 , a measuring unit 5 , and a curing unit 6 . and a supply unit 7 and a control unit 8 . The control unit 8 is constituted by, for example, a computer having a CPU, a memory, or the like, and controls the imprint process (controls each unit of the imprint apparatus 10 ).

The mold 1 is usually made of a material capable of transmitting ultraviolet rays, such as quartz, and in a part of the substrate side surface (pattern region 1a), there are irregularities for transferring to the imprint material supplied on the substrate. A pattern is formed. Moreover, glass, ceramics, a metal, a semiconductor, resin, etc. are used as the board|substrate 2, The member which consists of a material different from a board|substrate may be formed in the surface as needed as needed. As the substrate 2, specifically, a silicon wafer, a compound semiconductor wafer, a quartz glass, etc. are mentioned. In addition, before provision of the imprint material, if necessary, an adhesion layer may be formed in order to improve the adhesion between the imprint material and the substrate 2 .

The mold holding part 3 includes a mold chuck 3a and a mold driving part 3b. The mold chuck 3a holds the mold 1 by, for example, a vacuum suction force, an electrostatic force, or the like. Moreover, the mold drive part 3b includes actuators, such as a linear motor and an air cylinder, for example, and drives the mold 1 (mold chuck 3a) in Z direction. The mold driving unit 3b of the present embodiment is configured to drive the mold 1 in the Z direction, but is not limited thereto, and for example, the mold 1 in the XY direction and the θ direction (rotational direction around the Z axis). ) may have a function or the like for driving. Here, the mold holding part 3 is provided with a deformable part 9 as a mechanism for deforming the pattern region by applying a force to a plurality of places on the side surface of the mold 1 . The deformable part 9 may include a plurality of actuators, such as a piezo element, for example.

The substrate stage 4 (substrate holding unit, stage) includes a substrate chuck 4a and a substrate driving unit 4b. The substrate chuck 4a holds the substrate 2 by, for example, a vacuum suction force, an electrostatic force, or the like. Moreover, the board|substrate drive part 4b includes actuators, such as a linear motor, for example, and drives the board|substrate 2 (substrate chuck 4a) in XY direction. Although the board|substrate drive part 4b of this embodiment is comprised so that it may drive the board|substrate 2 in an XY direction, it is not limited to it, For example, it has a function etc. which drive the board|substrate 2 in a Z direction and the θ direction. also be Here, in this embodiment, although the operation of changing the distance (distance in the Z direction) between the mold 1 and the substrate 2 is performed by the mold holding unit 3, it may be performed by the substrate stage 4, It may be done relatively by both of them. In addition, although the operation|movement which changes the relative position of the mold 1 and the board|substrate 2 in XY direction is performed by the board|substrate stage 4, it may be performed by the mold holding part 3, and it is relative by both of them. may be done with

The measurement unit 5 has a detection unit (scope) for detecting a mark provided on the mold 1 (pattern region 1a) and a mark provided on the substrate 2 (shot region 2a), and the pattern region 1a The amount of position shift and the shape difference between the shot region 2a and the shot region 2a are measured. For example, the measurement unit 5 detects the marks provided at the four corners of the pattern area 1a and the marks provided at the four corners of the shot area 2a by the detection unit. Thereby, the measurement unit 5 can measure the amount of position shift between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a and the shape difference between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a.

The curing part 6 (irradiation part) cures the imprint material by irradiating light (ultraviolet rays) to the imprint material on the substrate through the mold 1 in a state where the mold 1 and the imprint material on the substrate are in contact. make it Further, the supply unit 7 supplies (applies) an imprint material onto the substrate.

[Imprint processing]

Next, the imprint process will be described with reference to FIG. 2 . 2 is a flowchart illustrating an imprint process. The flowchart shown in FIG. 2 shows the imprint process performed for each board|substrate, and each process can be controlled by the control part 8. As shown in FIG. The description is abbreviate|omitted about the mounting and collection|recovery of the mold 1 to the mold holding part 3, and mounting and collection|recovery of the board|substrate 2 to the board|substrate stage 4. As shown in FIG.

In S11 , the control unit 8 controls the substrate stage 4 such that the target shot region 2a (hereinafter, the target shot region 2a ) to be subjected to the imprint process is disposed under the supply unit 7 , The supply unit 7 is controlled to supply the imprint material to the shot region 2a. In S12 , the control unit 8 controls the substrate stage 4 such that the target shot region 2a is disposed below the pattern region 1a of the mold 1 . In S13 , the control unit 8 controls the mold holding unit 3 (mold driving unit 3b ) so that the distance between the mold 1 and the substrate 2 becomes small, thereby forming the imprint material on the mold 1 and the substrate. make contact with

In S14 , the control unit 8 causes the measurement unit 5 to measure the positional shift amount and shape difference between the pattern region 1a of the mold 1 and the target shot region 2a of the substrate 2 (measuring step) . In S15 , the control unit 8 controls the mold 1 and the substrate 2 to correct the positional shift and shape difference between the pattern region 1a and the target shot region 2a based on the measurement result by the measurement unit 5 . ) and change the relative position and relative shape (correction process). Changing the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 can be performed by moving the substrate stage 4 in the XY direction. Further, the change of the relative shape of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 can be performed by deforming the pattern region 1a by the deformable portion 9 . Here, in the present embodiment, as the deformable portion 9 for deforming at least one of the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a, a mechanism for deforming the pattern region 1a by applying a force to the side surface of the mold 1 was used. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and a mechanism for deforming the shot region 2a by applying heat to the substrate 2 by irradiation of light or the like may be used. That is, the deformable portion 9 may be configured to include at least one of a mechanism for deforming the pattern region 1a and a mechanism for deforming the shot region 2a.

In S16, the control unit 8 causes the measurement unit 5 to measure the positional shift amount and shape difference between the pattern region 1a of the mold 1 and the target shot region 2a of the substrate 2 again (measurement process) ). In S17, the control part 8 judges whether the position shift amount and the shape difference measured by the measurement part 5 in S16 are each in an allowable range, respectively. When the position shift amount and the shape difference are not within the allowable ranges, the process returns to S15, and the correction process of S15 and the measurement process of S16 are performed again. On the other hand, when the position shift amount and the shape difference each fall within the allowable range, it progresses to S18. In this way, in the imprint apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 is repeated by repeating the correction process of S15 and the measurement process of S16 when the positional shift amount and the shape difference are within the allowable ranges, respectively. sorting is done.

In S18, the control unit 8 controls the curing unit 6 to irradiate the imprint material on the substrate with light through the mold 1, and cures the imprint material. In S19, the control unit 8 controls the mold holding unit 3 so that the distance between the mold 1 and the substrate 2 is enlarged, and peels (releases) the mold 1 from the cured imprint material. In S20, the control unit 8 determines whether or not a shot region (next shot region) to be subsequently subjected to imprint processing is on the substrate. If there is a next shot area, it returns to S11, and if there is no next shot area, it ends.

[Correction process]

Next, the correction process of S15 is demonstrated in detail, referring FIG. The correction step of S15 is performed in a state in which the mold 1 and the imprint material on the substrate are in contact (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as a contact state). Then, as described above, the correction process of S15 includes a process of correcting a positional shift between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a, and a process of correcting the shape difference between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a. process may be included.

Fig. 3A is a view from above (Z direction) of the pattern region 1a (dotted-dotted line) and the shot region 2a (dashed line) before the correction process is performed. Then, the amount of position shift and the shape difference between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a in this state are measured by the measurement unit 5 . In the example shown in Fig. 3(a), in order to simplify the explanation, it is assumed that a shape difference including only a positional shift (translational shift) and a magnification component occurs in the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a. are expressing However, in reality, not only the magnification component but also various components such as a trapezoidal component and an arcuate component can be included as the shape difference.

When correcting the positional shift between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a, for example, by moving the substrate stage 4, the pattern region 1a (mold (mold) 1)) and the shot region 2a (substrate 2) are changed in relative positions. In Fig. 3B, the shot region 2a before the relative position change is indicated by a broken line, and the shot region 2a' after the relative position is changed is indicated by a solid line. In the example shown in FIG. 3B , the relative positions of the pattern area 1a and the shot area 2a are changed so that the center of the shot area 2a coincides with the center of the pattern area 1a.

In addition, when correcting the shape difference between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a, for example, by deforming the pattern region 1a by means of the deforming unit 9, as shown in FIG. Similarly, the relative shape of the pattern area 1a and the shot area 2a is changed. In Fig. 3(c), the pattern area 1a before changing the relative shape is indicated by a dashed-dotted line, and the pattern area 1a' after the relative shape is changed by the solid line (shot after changing the relative position) superimposed on region 2a'). The correction of the shape difference shown in FIG. 3C may be performed simultaneously with the correction of the position shift shown in FIG. 3B , or may be performed before the correction of the position shift.

Here, in the imprint apparatus 10 , it is preferable from the viewpoint of throughput to reduce the number of times the measurement process and the correction process are repeated. However, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 is changed in the contact state, the force to return the relative position to the original state due to the viscoelasticity of the imprint material is increased. occurs, and a change in the relative shape of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 is newly generated. Therefore, it was difficult to improve the throughput by reducing the number of repetitions of the measurement process and the correction process only with the above-described process.

For example, FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which the mold 1 and the imprint material 6a on the substrate are in contact with each other, and FIG. 5 is a view of the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a from above. am. In the state shown in FIG. 4A, the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a are arranged as shown in FIG. 5A. In this case, when the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 is changed from the state shown in Fig. 4A to the state shown in Fig. 4B, the imprint material 6a is Due to the viscoelasticity, the pattern region 1a is deformed into the shape 1a″ indicated by the solid line in Fig. 5B. At this time, although not shown in Fig. 5B, the viscoelasticity of the imprint material 6a is Accordingly, not only the pattern region 1a but also the shot region 2a can be deformed, that is, a change in the relative shape of the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a is newly generated. Since it occurs every time the relative positions of (1) and the substrate 2 are changed, it has been made difficult to reduce the number of repetitions of the measurement process and the correction process.

Therefore, in the imprint apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, it may occur due to control of the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 for correcting the positional shift between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a. The relative shape change amount between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a is estimated. Then, the deformable unit 9 is controlled based on the estimated shape change amount. Hereinafter, "pattern region 1a and shot region that may occur due to control of the relative positions of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 for correcting the positional shift between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a. The relative shape change (amount) in (2a)” is sometimes simply referred to as a “shape change (amount)”.

[Correction of shape change amount]

The control unit 8 estimates the amount of shape change based on the amount of position shift between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a measured by the measurement unit 5 in the measurement step of S14 or S16. Then, in the correction step of S15, the deforming unit 9 is controlled so that the relative shape change between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a is corrected based on the estimated shape change amount. At this time, the control unit 8 controls the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 based on the amount of positional shift measured by the measurement unit 5, and based on the estimated shape change amount, the deformation unit ( 9) is preferable from the viewpoint of throughput. However, without being limited thereto, the shape estimated after the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 is controlled based on the amount of the position shift before the next measurement by the measurement unit 5 is performed. You may control the deformation|transformation part 9 based on the amount of change. In addition, the control part 8 may perform control of the deformable part 9 based on the estimated shape change amount in parallel with control of the deformable part 9 based on the shape difference measured by the measuring part 5. FIG. That is, the control unit 8 may control the deformable unit 9 based on the sum of the estimated shape change amount and the shape difference measured by the measurement unit 5 .

6 is a block diagram showing control of position alignment of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 in a contact state. The position shift amount 11 and the shape difference 21 measured by the measurement unit 5 are input to the subtractors 12 and 22, respectively. The subtractor 12 calculates the deviation 14 between the position shift amount 11 measured by the measurement unit 5 and the target value 13 (eg 0) the substrate stage 4 and the estimation unit 8a ( control unit 8). The substrate stage 4 moves based on the deviation 14 supplied from the subtractor 12, and the relative position of the pattern region 1a (mold 1) and the shot region 2a (substrate 2). change the At this time, as described above, by changing the relative positions of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 , a shape change may occur as a disturbance 15 . Therefore, the estimator 8a estimates the shape change amount based on the deviation 14 (position shift amount) supplied from the subtractor 12 , and supplies the estimated value 16 of the shape change amount to the adder 25 . do. A method of estimating the shape change amount will be described later.

On the other hand, the subtractor 22 supplies the difference 24 between the shape difference 21 measured by the measurement unit 5 and the target value 23 (eg, 0) to the adder 25 . The adder 25 synthesizes the estimated value 16 of the shape change amount output from the estimator 8a (the control unit 8) and the deviation 24 (shape difference) output from the subtractor 22, and synthesizes the value is supplied to the deformable part 9 . The transforming unit 9 operates based on the value supplied from the adder 25 and changes the relative shape of the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a. In this way, by controlling the deforming unit 9 based on the estimated value 16 of the amount of shape change obtained by the estimating unit 8a, the disturbance 15 is caused by the change in the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 . The shape change that has occurred can be corrected before the next measurement by the measurement unit 5 .

7 is a diagram illustrating measurement timing by the measurement unit 5, correction timing of position shift by the substrate stage 4, and shape difference by the deforming unit 9 in the imprint apparatus 10 of the present embodiment. It is a figure which shows the correction timing. In FIG. 7 , the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents the transition between the execution state and the standby state. That is, in the measurement by the measurement unit 5, a time of "1" is an execution state in which measurement is being performed, and a time of "0" is a standby state in which measurement is not performed. Similarly for the correction of the positional shift by the substrate stage 4 and the correction of the shape difference by the deforming unit 9, the time of “1” is the execution state in which correction is being performed, and when it is “0”, correction is not performed. is in a waiting state that does not In the correction of the shape difference by the deforming unit 9, correction based on the estimated value of the shape change amount obtained by the estimating unit 8a (control unit 8) may also be performed in parallel. Further, as shown in FIG. 7 , the correction of the positional shift and the correction of the shape difference can be performed in parallel in the interval period A of measurement by the measurement unit 5 .

[Method of estimating shape change amount]

Next, a method of estimating the shape change amount will be described.

For example, the control unit 8 controls the amount of change in the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 in the contact state, and the relative between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a by the change amount. It has first information (for example, an expression) indicating the relationship between the deformation amounts, and estimates the shape change amount based on the first information. Specifically, the control unit 8 estimates (determines) the amount of deformation obtained when the amount of position shift measured by the measurement unit 5 is applied to the first information as the amount of change as the amount of change in shape. The first information can be obtained, for example, by measuring the shape difference by the measuring unit 5 while changing the relative positions of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 in the contact state.

Here, the first information may be different depending on the condition (imprint condition) at the time of performing the imprint process. Therefore, the control unit 8 has a plurality of pieces of first information for each imprint condition, and what is necessary is just to select the first information corresponding to the imprint condition to be used from among them. Imprint conditions, for example, may include at least one of the type of imprint material (characteristics of the imprint material), the thickness of the imprint material to be formed on the shot area, and the shape of the pattern formed in the pattern area 1a (the mold 1 to be used). have. The properties of the imprint material may include, for example, viscoelastic properties, viscous modulus, elastic modulus, and rigidity of the imprint material.

Further, the control unit once obtains a force when changing the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 in order to correct the displacement amount based on the positional shift amount measured by the measurement unit, and obtains a shape from the obtained force You can estimate the amount of change. In this case, the control unit 8 changes the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 by the amount of change in the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 in the contact state, and the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 by the change amount. It has second information indicating a relationship between a force (also referred to as a shear force (hereinafter referred to as a shear force)) for Further, the control unit 8 has third information indicating the relationship between the shear force and the relative deformation amount between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a due to the shear force. Then, the control unit 8 applies the displacement amount measured by the measurement unit 5 to the second information as a change amount to obtain a shear force, and applies the obtained shear force to the third information. Estimate (determine).

Here, the second information may be different depending on the imprint condition. Therefore, the control unit 8 has a plurality of pieces of second information for each imprint condition, and may select the second information corresponding to the imprint condition to be used from among them. On the other hand, although the third information may be different depending on the type of the mold 1 to be used, it hardly changes depending on the type of the imprint material or the thickness of the imprint material. Therefore, the control unit 8 may have the third information for each type of mold to be used.

As described above, the imprint apparatus 10 of the present embodiment estimates the amount of shape change based on the amount of position shift measured by the measurement unit 5 , and controls the deformation unit 9 based on the estimated amount of shape change. do. Thereby, the number of times of repeating the measurement process and the correction process can be reduced, and the throughput can be improved.

<Second embodiment>

An imprint apparatus of a second embodiment according to the present invention will be described. The imprint apparatus of the second embodiment inherits the imprint apparatus 10 of the first embodiment, and only points different from those of the first embodiment will be described below. In the first embodiment, an example of estimating the amount of shape change based on the amount of position shift measured by the measurement unit 5 has been described. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, based on the force applied to at least one of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 in order to change the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 so that the amount of position shift is corrected, An example of estimating the shape change amount will be described. In this embodiment, as a force applied to at least one of the mold 1 and the substrate 2, a driving force generated by at least one of the mold holding part 3 and the substrate stage 4 (hereinafter, simply "driving force") An example of using ) will be described. However, it is not limited to a driving force, For example, the result of actually measuring the force applied to at least one of the mold 1 and the board|substrate 2 may be used.

Fig. 8 is a block diagram showing control of position alignment between the mold 1 and the substrate 2 in a contact state. The position shift amount 11 and the shape difference 21 measured by the measurement unit 5 are input to the subtractors 12 and 22 . The subtractor 12 supplies the deviation 14 between the position shift amount 11 measured by the measurement unit 5 and the target value 13 (eg, 0) to the substrate stage 4 . The substrate stage 4 moves based on the deviation 14 supplied from the subtractor 12, and the relative position of the pattern region 1a (mold 1) and the shot region 2a (substrate 2). change the At this time, as described above, by changing the relative positions of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 , a shape change may occur as a disturbance 15 . Therefore, the estimation unit 8a (control unit 8) generates in the substrate stage 4 when the relative position of the mold 1 and the substrate 2 is changed so that the deviation 14 (position shift) is corrected. The shape change amount is estimated based on the driving force 17 , and the estimated value 16 of the shape change amount is supplied to the adder 25 . A method of estimating the shape change amount will be described later. Here, the operations of the subtractor 22 , the adder 25 , and the transforming unit 9 are the same as those described with reference to FIG. 6 in the first embodiment.

Next, a method of estimating the shape change amount will be described.

For example, the control unit 8 has fourth information (for example, an expression) indicating the relationship between the driving force and the relative deformation amount between the pattern region 1a and the shot region 2a by the driving force, and the fourth information The shape change amount is estimated based on the information. Specifically, the control unit 8 estimates (determines) the deformation amount obtained when the driving force for correcting the positional shift amount measured by the measurement unit 5 is applied to the fourth information as the shape change amount. The driving force can be obtained from, for example, a voltage value or a current value supplied to at least one actuator of the mold holding unit 3 and the substrate stage 4 . Further, the fourth information can be obtained by, for example, measuring the shape difference by the measuring unit 5 while changing the driving force in the contact state. Here, since the fourth information may be different depending on the imprint condition, the control unit 8 has a plurality of fourth information for each imprint condition, and may select the fourth information corresponding to the used imprint condition from among them. .

The fourth information can also be acquired by applying vibration to the mold 1 and the substrate 2 in a contact state. For example, vibration (sweep vibration) is applied to the mold 1 and the substrate 2 by at least one of the mold holding part 3 and the substrate stage 4 so that the frequency changes with time. Alternatively, a plurality of sinusoidal vibrations having different frequencies may be applied. Thereby, the frequency response with respect to the relationship between the force applied to at least one of the mold 1 and the board|substrate 2, and the relative position of the mold 1 and the board|substrate 2 can be known. From this frequency response, the viscoelasticity of the imprint material can be calculated, and the fourth information can be obtained from the calculated viscoelasticity of the imprint material using numerical simulation or the like.

<Embodiment of manufacturing method of article>

The method for manufacturing an article according to an embodiment of the present invention is suitable for manufacturing an article such as a micro device such as a semiconductor device or an element having a microstructure, for example. The article manufacturing method of the present embodiment includes a step of forming a pattern on an imprint material supplied (applying) to a substrate using the imprint apparatus (imprint method), and a step of processing the substrate on which the pattern is formed in this step. . In addition, this manufacturing method includes other well-known processes (oxidation, film-forming, vapor deposition, doping, planarization, etching, resist peeling, dicing, bonding, packaging, etc.). The article manufacturing method of the present embodiment is advantageous compared to the conventional method in at least one of performance, quality, productivity, and production cost of the article.

The pattern of the cured product molded using the imprint apparatus is permanently used for at least a part of various articles or temporarily when various articles are manufactured. The article is an electric circuit element, an optical element, MEMS, a recording element, a sensor, or a mold. Examples of the electric circuit element include volatile or nonvolatile semiconductor memories such as DRAM, SRAM, flash memory, and MRAM, and semiconductor elements such as LSI, CCD, image sensor, and FPGA. As a type|mold, the mold for imprints, etc. are mentioned.

The pattern of the cured product is used as a constituent member of at least a part of the article as it is, or is temporarily used as a resist mask. After etching or ion implantation is performed in the processing step of the substrate, the resist mask is removed.

Next, a specific manufacturing method of the article will be described. As shown in Fig. 9(a), a substrate 1z such as a silicon wafer formed on the surface of a material to be processed 2z such as an insulator is prepared, and then the surface of the material 2z to be processed by an inkjet method or the like. An imprint material 3z is applied thereto. Here, the state in which the imprint material 3z in the shape of a plurality of droplets is provided on the board|substrate is shown.

As shown in Fig. 9(b), the imprint die 4z is made to face the side on which the concave-convex pattern is formed toward the imprint material 3z on the substrate. As shown in Fig. 9C, the substrate 1z to which the imprint material 3z has been applied is brought into contact with the mold 4z, and pressure is applied. The imprint material 3z is filled in the gap between the mold 4z and the material to be processed 2z. In this state, when light as curing energy is transmitted through the mold 4z and irradiated, the imprint material 3z is cured.

As shown in Fig. 9(d), after curing the imprint material 3z, when the mold 4z and the substrate 1z are separated, a pattern of the cured product of the imprint material 3z is formed on the substrate 1z. is formed The pattern of this cured product is such that the concave portion of the mold has a shape corresponding to the convex portion of the cured product and the concave portion of the mold corresponds to the convex portion of the cured product, that is, the concave-convex pattern of the mold 4z is transferred to the imprint material 3z. do.

As shown in Fig. 9(e), when etching is performed using the pattern of the cured product as an etching mask, the portion without the cured product or thinly remaining on the surface of the material to be processed 2z is removed, and the groove 5z ) becomes As shown in Fig. 9(f), when the pattern of the cured product is removed, an article having grooves 5z formed on the surface of the material to be processed 2z can be obtained. Although the pattern of the cured product is removed here, it may be used as a structural member of an interlayer insulating film included in, for example, a semiconductor element, ie, an article without removing the pattern after processing.

(Other Examples)

The present invention provides a program for realizing one or more functions of the above embodiments to a system or device via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in the computer of the system or device read and execute the program. It can also be realized by processing.

It is also executable by a circuit (eg, an ASIC) that implements one or more functions.

As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to these embodiment, It goes without saying that various modifications and changes are possible within the scope of the summary.

1: mold
1a: pattern area
2: Substrate
2a: shot area
3: mold holding part
4: substrate stage
5: Measuring unit
6: hardening part
7: Supply
8: control
9: Transformation
10: imprint device

Claims (13)

An imprint apparatus for forming a pattern of an imprint material on a shot region of a substrate by using a mold having a pattern region, comprising:
a deforming unit for deforming at least one of the pattern region and the shot region;
a measuring unit for measuring a positional shift between the pattern region and the shot region;
In a state in which the mold and the imprint material on the substrate are in contact, a measurement step of measuring the displacement by the measurement unit, and the mold and the mold so that the displacement is corrected based on a measurement result in the measurement step A control unit that controls the calibration process to change the relative position of the substrate
including,
In the correction process, the control unit calculates, in the measurement process, a relative shape change between the pattern region and the shot region that occurs due to a change in the relative position in the state for correcting the position shift. The imprint apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the deformation part is controlled to be estimated based on the positional shift and corrected for the shape change. According to claim 1,
The imprint apparatus, characterized in that the control unit controls the deforming unit so that the shape change is corrected while changing the relative position for correcting the positional shift in the correction step. According to claim 1,
The imprint apparatus, characterized in that, in the correction step, after changing the relative position for correcting the positional shift, the control unit controls the deforming unit so that the shape change is corrected. According to claim 1,
The measuring unit further measures a shape difference between the pattern area and the shot area,
The control unit is
In the measurement step, the measurement unit measures the displacement and the shape difference,
In the correction step, the deformable portion is controlled based on a sum of the estimated shape change and the shape difference measured by the measurement unit. delete According to claim 1,
The control unit has information indicating a relationship between a change amount of a relative position of the mold and the substrate in the state and a relative deformation amount between the pattern region and the shot region due to the change amount, and is measured by the measurement unit. The imprint apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the amount of deformation obtained when the amount of position shift is applied to the information as the amount of change is estimated as the amount of shape change. According to claim 1,
and the control unit estimates the shape change based on a driving force that drives at least one of the mold and the substrate in order to correct the positional shift in the correction step. 8. The method of claim 7,
The control unit has information indicating a relationship between a force applied to at least one of the mold and the substrate in the above state and a relative amount of deformation between the pattern region and the shot region due to the force, and is configured to correct the positional shift. and estimating the amount of deformation obtained when the driving force is applied to the information as the force as the amount of the shape change. According to claim 1,
and the deforming unit includes at least one of a mechanism for deforming the pattern region by applying a force to a side surface of the mold, and a mechanism for deforming the shot region by applying heat to the substrate. A forming process of forming a pattern on a substrate using the imprint apparatus according to claim 1;
Including a processing process of processing the substrate on which the pattern is formed in the forming process,
A method of manufacturing an article, wherein the article is produced from the substrate processed in the machining process. An imprint method for forming a pattern of an imprint material on a shot region of a substrate using a mold having a pattern region, comprising:
a measuring step of measuring a positional shift between the pattern region and the shot region;
a correction step of changing the relative position of the mold and the substrate so that the positional shift is corrected based on a measurement result in the measurement step in a state in which the mold and the imprint material on the substrate are in contact;
The correction process is
An estimation step of estimating a relative shape change between the pattern region and the shot region that occurs due to a change in the relative position in the state to correct the position shift based on the position shift measured in the measurement step class,
a deformation process of deforming at least one of the pattern region and the shot region so that the shape change estimated in the estimation process is corrected
Imprint method comprising a. According to claim 1,
The measuring unit further measures a shape difference between the pattern area and the shot area,
The control unit is
In the measurement step, the measurement unit measures the displacement and the shape difference,
In the correction step, the imprint apparatus, characterized in that the deformation portion is controlled so that the shape difference and the shape change are corrected. According to claim 1,
The imprint apparatus, wherein the control unit does not perform measurement by the measurement unit in the correction step.

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