TW202036765A - A substrate container, a lithographic apparatus and a method using a lithographic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a substrate container comprising a storage location configured to store a substrate; a port configured to connect the substrate container to a lithographic apparatus and to enable the substrate to be transferred to and from the lithographic apparatus; and a sensor system configured to detect a characteristic of the substrate stored in the storage location and to provide a sensor signal. The invention further relates to methods using such a substrate container.

Description

Substrate container, lithography device and method of using lithography device

The present invention relates to a substrate container, a lithography device, and a method of using the substrate container.

A lithography device is a machine that is constructed to apply a desired pattern to a substrate. The lithography device can be used in, for example, integrated circuit (=IC) manufacturing. The lithography device can, for example, project the pattern (often also referred to as "design layout" or "design") of a patterned device (such as a mask) onto a radiation-sensitive material (resist) disposed on a substrate (such as a wafer) Layer up.

With the continuous advancement of semiconductor manufacturing processes, the size of circuit components has been continuously reduced for decades, and the amount of functional components such as transistors in each device has been steadily increasing. This follows what is commonly referred to as "Moore's Law" (Moore's law)" trend. In order to keep up with Moore's Law, the semiconductor industry is striving to acquire technologies that can produce increasingly smaller features. In order to project the pattern on the substrate, the lithography device can use electromagnetic radiation. The wavelength of this radiation determines the minimum size of features patterned on the substrate. The typical wavelengths currently in use are 365 nm (i-line), 248 nm, 193 nm and 13.5 nm.

In the immersion lithography device, the immersion liquid is inserted into the space between the projection system of the device and the substrate. In this specification, reference will be made to local infiltration in the description, where the infiltration liquid is confined in use to the space between the projection system and the surface facing the projection system. The opposite surface is the surface of the substrate or the surface of the supporting stage (or substrate table) coplanar with the surface of the substrate. (Please note that unless expressly stated otherwise, any reference to the "surface of the substrate" below also refers to the surface of the substrate table in addition to or in place of the surface of the substrate table; and vice versa.) Exist in the projection system and the stage The fluid handling structure in between is used to restrict the infiltration liquid to the infiltration space. The space filled by the liquid is smaller than the top surface of the substrate in plan view, and the space remains substantially stationary with respect to the projection system, while the substrate and the substrate stage move below.

The lithography device can process 100 or 150 substrates or more per hour, each containing 100 or more dies or fields. Usually, after each process step, only the sample of the substrate and the sample of the die or field of each substrate are inspected. Therefore, it can take several hours to detect that something has happened and result in a loss of yield (the proportion of correctly formed devices) Decrease), and it takes more hours to identify the cause of the yield loss. By then, hundreds of defective wafers may have been produced and need to be reworked, and many wafers may have been developed so that rework cannot be performed and must be scrapped. If the yield loss occurs in the layer below the substrate, many hours of production can be lost.

For example, it is desirable to provide an improved method for detecting the state change of a lithography device.

According to one aspect, a container for a substrate is provided, which includes: A location configured to store a substrate; A port configured to connect to a lithography device and enable a substrate to be transferred to and from the lithography device; and A sensor system configured to detect a characteristic of a substrate stored in the storage location and provide a sensor signal.

According to one aspect, there is provided a device manufacturing method using a lithography device having a projection system for projecting an image onto a substrate held on a substrate holder, the method comprising: A transportable container is connected to the lithography device, the transportable container has: a location for storing a substrate; a port configured to connect to the lithography device and enable the substrate to be transferred to the micro Shadow device and transmitted from the lithography device; and a sensor system configured to measure a parameter of the substrate stored in the storage location; Loading the substrate from the container to the lithography device; Performing an action on the substrate in the lithography device; Unloading the substrate from the lithography device to the container; and After the unloading, use the sensor to perform a measurement on the substrate, thereby generating a measurement result.

In this document, the terms "radiation" and "beam" are used to cover all types of electromagnetic radiation, including (for example, ultraviolet radiation having a wavelength of 436, 405, 365, 248, 193, 157, or 126 nm).

The terms "reduced mask", "mask" or "patterned device" used herein can be broadly interpreted as referring to a general patterned device that can be used to impart incident radiation beams to a patterned cross section. The patterned cross-section corresponds to the pattern that will be produced in the target portion of the substrate. The term "light valve" may also be used in the context of this content. In addition to classic masks (transmission or reflection, binary, phase shift, hybrid, etc.), other examples of such patterned devices include programmable mirror arrays and programmable LCD arrays.

Figure 1 schematically depicts a lithography device. The lithography device includes: an illumination system (also called a illuminator) IL, which is configured to adjust the radiation beam B (such as UV radiation or DUV radiation); a mask support (such as a mask table) MT, which is configured to Supports the patterned device (such as a mask) MA and is connected to a first positioner PM configured to accurately position the patterned device MA according to certain parameters; a substrate support (such as a substrate table) 60, which is constructed to Holding the substrate (such as a resist-coated wafer) W and connected to a second positioner PW configured to accurately position the substrate support 60 according to certain parameters; and a projection system (such as a refractive projection lens system) ) PS, which is configured to project the pattern imparted to the radiation beam B by the patterned device MA onto the target portion C (for example, including one or more dies) of the substrate W.

In operation, the illumination system IL receives the radiation beam B from the radiation source SO via the beam delivery system BD, for example. The illumination system IL may include various types of optical components for guiding, shaping, and/or controlling radiation, such as refractive, reflective, magnetic, electromagnetic, electrostatic, and/or other types of optical components, or any combination thereof. The illuminator IL can be used to adjust the radiation beam B to have the desired spatial and angular intensity distribution in the cross section of the patterned device MA at the plane. The term "projection system" PS used herein should be broadly interpreted as covering various types of projection systems suitable for the exposure radiation used and/or suitable for other factors such as the use of immersion liquid or the use of vacuum, including Refraction, reflection, catadioptric, synthetic, magnetic, electromagnetic and/or electrostatic optical systems, or any combination thereof. It can be considered that any use of the term "projection lens" herein is synonymous with the more general term "projection system" PS.

The lithography device belongs to the following type: at least a part of the substrate W can be covered by an immersion liquid (such as water) having a relatively high refractive index to fill the immersion space 10 between the projection system PS and the substrate W, which is also called immersion lithography. More information on the infiltration technique is given in US 6,952,253, which is incorporated herein by reference.

The lithography device may belong to a type having two or more substrate supports 60 (also referred to as "dual stage"). In this "multi-stage" machine, the substrate supports 60 can be used in parallel, and/or the substrate W located on one of the substrate supports 60 can be subjected to the step of preparing the substrate W for subsequent exposure, and simultaneously The other substrate W on the other substrate support 60 is used to expose patterns on the other substrate W.

In addition to the substrate support 60, the lithography apparatus may include a measurement stage (not depicted in FIG. 1). The measurement stage is configured to hold the sensor and/or clean the device. The sensor can be configured to measure the properties of the projection system PS or the properties of the radiation beam B. The measurement stage can hold multiple sensors. The cleaning device may be configured to clean a part of the lithography device, such as a part of the projection system PS or a part of a system that provides an immersion liquid. The measurement stage can move under the projection system PS when the substrate support 60 is away from the projection system PS.

In operation, the radiation beam B is incident on a patterned device MA, such as a mask, held on the mask support MT, and is patterned by a pattern (design layout) existing on the patterned device MA. Having traversed the mask MA, the radiation beam B passes through the projection system PS, which focuses the beam onto the target portion C of the substrate W. With the help of the second positioner PW and the position measuring system IF, the substrate support 60 can be accurately moved, for example, to position different target parts C in the path of the radiation beam B at a focused and aligned position. Similarly, the first positioner PM and (possibly) another position sensor (which is not explicitly depicted in FIG. 1) can be used to accurately position the patterned device MA relative to the path of the radiation beam B. The mask alignment marks M1, M2 and the substrate alignment marks P1, P2 can be used to align the patterned device MA and the substrate W. Although the substrate alignment marks P1, P2 as illustrated occupy dedicated target portions, the substrate alignment marks P1, P2 may be located in the spaces between the target portions. When the substrate alignment marks P1 and P2 are located between the target portion C, the substrate alignment marks P1 and P2 are called scribe lane alignment marks.

In this manual, Cartesian coordinate system is used. The Cartesian coordinate system has three axes, namely, x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis. Each of the three axes is orthogonal to the other two axes. The rotation around the x-axis is called Rx rotation. The rotation around the y axis is called Ry rotation. The rotation around the z axis is called Rz rotation. The x-axis and y-axis define a horizontal plane, and the z-axis is in the vertical direction. The Cartesian coordinate system does not limit the invention and is only for illustration. In fact, another coordinate system such as a cylindrical coordinate system can be used to clarify the present invention. The orientation of the Cartesian coordinate system can be different, for example, so that the z-axis has a component along the horizontal plane.

The controller 500 controls the overall operation of the lithography device, and in particular executes the operation procedures described further below. The controller 500 may be embodied as a suitably programmed general-purpose computer, which includes a central processing unit, volatile storage components and non-volatile storage components, one or more input and output devices (such as keyboards and screens), one or more A network connection and one or more interfaces with various components of the lithography device. It should be understood that the one-to-one relationship between the control computer and the lithography device is not necessary. One computer can control multiple lithography devices. Multiple computers connected via the network can be used to control a lithography device. The controller 500 can also be configured to control one or more associated program devices and substrate processing devices in a lithocell or cluster, and the lithography device forms part of the lithocell or cluster. The controller 500 can also be configured to be subordinate to the supervisory control system 600 of the lithography unit or cluster and/or the overall control system of the fab.

The configuration for providing liquid between the final lens element 100 and the substrate W of the projection system PS can be classified into three general categories. These categories are bath configurations, so-called partial infiltration systems, and fully wet infiltration systems. The invention is particularly concerned with localized infiltration systems.

In the configuration that has been proposed for the local infiltration system, the liquid confinement structure 12 is along the boundary of the infiltration space 10 between the final lens element 100 of the projection system PS and the opposite surface of the stage or table facing the projection system PS. At least part of it extends. The opposite surface of the station is mentioned as such because the station is moved and rarely fixed during use. Generally speaking, the facing surface of the stage refers to the surface of the substrate W, the substrate stage 60 surrounding the substrate W, or both.

2 and 3 show the different features that can exist in the variation of the restriction structure 12. The features described herein can be selected individually or in combination as shown or as needed.

Figure 2 shows two variants of the liquid confinement structure 12 around the bottom surface of the final lens element 100; one variant is shown on the left and another variant is shown on the right. The features of the two variants can be combined in a single liquid confinement structure. Finally, the lens element 100 has an inverted frustoconical shape 30. The frustoconical shape 30 has a flat bottom surface and a conical surface. The frustoconical shape 30 protrudes from a flat surface and has a bottom flat surface. The bottom flat surface is the optically active part of the bottom surface of the last lens element through which the projection beam can pass. The liquid confinement structure surrounds at least a part of the frustoconical shape 30. The liquid confinement structure 12 has an inner surface facing the conical surface of the frustoconical shape. The inner surface and the conical surface have complementary shapes. The top surface of the liquid confinement structure 12 is substantially flat. The liquid confinement structure 12 can be adapted around the frusto-conical shape of the final lens element 100. The bottom surface of the liquid confinement structure 12 is substantially flat, and in use, the bottom surface can be parallel to the substrate stage 60 and/or the opposite surface of the substrate W. The distance between the bottom surface and the opposite surface can be in the range of 30 to 500 microns, ideally in the range of 80 to 200 microns.

The liquid confinement structure 12 extends to be closer to the opposite surface of the substrate W and the substrate stage 60 than the final lens element 100. Therefore, the infiltration space 10 is defined between the inner surface of the liquid confinement structure 12, the flat surface of the frusto-conical portion, and the opposite surface. During use, the infiltration space 10 is filled with liquid. The liquid fills at least a part of the buffer space between the complementary surfaces between the final lens element 100 and the liquid confinement structure 12. In an embodiment, the liquid fills at least a part of the wetting space 10 between the complementary inner surface and the conical surface.

The liquid is supplied to the infiltration space 10 through an opening formed in the surface of the liquid confinement structure 12. The liquid can be supplied through the supply opening 20 in the inner surface of the liquid confinement structure 12. Alternatively or in addition, the liquid is supplied from an under supply opening 23 formed in the lower surface of the liquid confinement structure 12. The lower supply opening 23 can surround the path of the projection beam, and it can be formed by a series of openings in an array. Liquid is supplied to fill the infiltration space 10 so that the flow through the infiltration space 10 under the projection system PS is laminar. Supplying liquid from the lower supply opening 23 below the liquid confinement structure 12 will additionally prevent air bubbles from entering the infiltration space 10. This supply of liquid acts as a liquid seal.

The liquid can be recovered from the recovery opening 21 formed in the inner surface. The recovery of the liquid through the recovery opening 21 can be performed by applying a negative pressure; the recovery through the recovery opening 21 is performed due to the speed of the liquid flow through the infiltration space 10; or the recovery can be performed due to both. When viewed in a plan view, the recovery opening 21 may be located on the opposite side of the supply opening 20. Additionally or alternatively, liquid can be recovered via an overflow opening 24 located on the top surface of the liquid confinement structure 12. The overflow opening 24 prevents the upper surface 22 of the wetting liquid from rising too high.

Additionally or alternatively, liquid may be recovered from below the liquid confinement structure 12 via a bottom recovery opening. The bottom recovery opening can be used to hold (or “pin”) the meniscus 33 to the liquid confinement structure 12. The meniscus 33 is formed between the liquid confinement structure 12 and the opposite surface, and it serves as a boundary between the liquid space and the gaseous external environment. The bottom recovery opening can be a porous member 25 or a porous plate, which can recover liquid in a single-phase flow. The bottom recovery opening may be a series of pining openings 32 through which liquid is recovered. The pinning opening 32 can recover liquid in a two-phase flow.

Relative to the inner surface of the liquid confinement structure 12, the air knife opening 26 is radially outward as appropriate. The gas can be supplied at a high speed through the air knife opening 26 to help confine the infiltration liquid in the infiltration space 10. The supplied gas may be humidified and it may contain carbon dioxide. The supplied gas can basically consist of carbon dioxide and water vapor. A radially outward of the air knife opening 26 is a gas recovery opening 18 for recovering the gas supplied via the air knife. For example, other openings to the atmosphere or gas source may exist in the bottom surface of the liquid confinement structure 12. For example, other openings may exist between the air knife opening 26 and the gas recovery opening 18 and/or between the pinning opening 32 and the air knife opening 26.

The features shown in FIG. 3 that are common to FIG. 2 share the same reference numerals. The liquid confinement structure 12 has an inner surface complementary to the conical surface of the frustoconical shape. The lower surface of the liquid confinement structure 12 is closer to the opposite surface than the bottom flat surface of the truncated cone shape.

The liquid is supplied to the space through the supply opening formed in the inner surface of the restriction structure. The supply opening 34 is positioned towards the bottom of the inner surface, possibly below the bottom surface of the frustoconical shape. The supply opening is located on the inner surface, spaced around the path of the projection beam.

The liquid is recovered from the infiltration space 10 through the recovery opening in the lower surface of the liquid confinement structure 12. As the opposed surface moves below the liquid confinement structure 12, the meniscus 33 can migrate above the surface of the recovery opening in the same direction as the movement of the opposed surface. The recovery opening may be formed of a porous member 25 or a porous plate. The liquid can be recovered in a single phase. In an embodiment, the liquid can be recovered in a two-phase flow. A two-phase flow is received in a chamber 35 in the liquid confinement structure 12, wherein the two-phase flow is separated into liquid and gas. Liquid and gas are recovered from the chamber 35 via separate channels 36, 38.

The inner periphery 39 of the lower surface of the liquid confinement structure 12 extends into the wetting space 10 away from the inner surface to form a plate 40. The inner periphery 39 forms a small hole whose size can be set to match the shape and size of the projection beam. The plate 40 can be used to isolate the liquid on either side. The supplied liquid flows inward toward the pores, through the inner pores, and then flows radially outward under the plate 40 toward the surrounding recovery opening.

In an embodiment, the liquid confinement structure 12 may have two parts: an inner part 12a and an outer part 12b. For convenience, this configuration is shown in the right part of Figure 3. The two parts can move relative to each other in a plane parallel to the facing surface. The inner part 12a may have a supply opening 34 and it may have an overflow recovery member 24. The outer part 12b may have a plate 40 and a recovery opening. The inner part 12a may have an intermediate recovery member 42 for recovering liquid flowing between the two parts.

Most lithography devices have ports for connecting to front-opening unit cassettes (commonly called FOUPs). FOUP is a housing for storing and transferring substrates in a controlled environment. When the FOUP is connected to the lithography device, the substrate can be loaded into and unloaded from the lithography device without being exposed to the external environment.

The present invention proposes to provide additional capabilities for the container (such as FOUP) used for the substrate to be able to monitor the performance and/or status of the lithography device. A FOUP provided with additional capabilities may be referred to as an enhanced FOUP in this article.

In the first aspect of the present invention, the enhanced FOUP has a sensing system configured to perform measurement on the substrate in the enhanced FOUP. By performing measurement on a substrate (such as a production substrate) in an enhanced FOUP attached to a lithography device or other process tool, faster detection can lead to faster detection than when measuring in a remote metrology device Any problem with yield loss becomes possible.

In the second aspect of the present invention, the enhanced FOUP is provided with special substrates, which can be used for measurement, inspection or maintenance of the lithography device. For example, the special substrate may include a detection substrate including one or more sensors such as a camera used to detect components of the lithography device. Another type of special substrate can be a cleaning substrate, which can be used to remove contaminants from the lithography device. Yet another type of special substrate may be a witness substrate, which is configured to be affected by a certain parameter or characteristic of the lithography device in a detectable manner. An example is a transparent substrate that can collect contaminants when processed in a lithography device; the contaminants are easier to see on the transparent substrate than on the conventional opaque substrate. Other types of special substrates are possible. The special substrates are configured to have a size sufficiently similar to the production substrates so that the special substrates can be accommodated by the lithography device without modification.

The third aspect of the present invention is a method for monitoring the performance of the lithography device by measuring the production substrate and/or the special substrate that has been processed by the lithography device. The substrate can be measured before and after processing. In the diagnostic mode, the substrate can be measured only after some steps of the normal exposure process have been performed to identify which step of the process caused the problem.

It should be understood that different aspects of the invention can be combined. In all aspects of the present invention, the enhanced FOUP can meet the relevant parts of SEMI standards (such as SEMI E47.1106, SEMI E62-1106, SEMI E158-0134 and SEMI E162-0912), so the enhanced FOUP can be compatible with The FOUP port of the lithography device can be used together without modification. These standards are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Therefore, the present invention can provide enhanced capabilities to existing lithography devices.

An enhanced FOUP 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically depicted in FIG. 4. The enhanced FOUP 200 has a plurality of storage locations 201, each of which is configured to store substrates of standard sizes (for example, 200 mm, 300 mm, or 450 mm). The storage location may include a wall shelf on which the edge of the substrate is placed and/or a clamping device for holding the substrate in place. For example, a standard FOUP may have space for 25 substrates. The enhanced FOUP can have less space because some of the volume is occupied by active components as described below.

The enhanced FOUP 200 has a port 212 on the side surface (that is, the surface perpendicular to the substrate stored in the FOUP) with a standard shape and size, so that it can be connected to the complementary part 300 on the lithography device or other tools. The port enables the substrate to be transferred to and from the lithography device or other tools by the loading robot LR.

The enhanced FOUP 200 has a sensor system for measuring the substrate contained in it. The sensor system may include various sensors and other components, and various of these sensors and other components are depicted in FIG. 4 and described below by way of examples.

The camera 202 is configured to image the upper surface (ie, the surface where the exposure is performed) of the substrate (for example, the production substrate PW) held in the enhanced FOUP 200. The camera 202 can be configured to image the entire substrate or only a portion (eg, the edge) of the substrate. If the field of view of one camera is not large enough to cover the entire substrate, multiple cameras can be provided to achieve imaging of the entire substrate. Ideally, the camera 202 can detect contaminants as small as a few μm to about 200 μm. It should be noted that in some cases, in order to be able to detect pollutants, the camera does not have to be able to distinguish the pollutants. For example, the presence of contaminants smaller than the equivalent size of the pixels can be inferred from the difference in intensity or color between pixels. The camera 202 does not intend to directly detect manufacturing defects in the production substrate, but intends to detect indicators that may imply conditions or events that are likely to cause yield loss. For example, in an immersion lithography device, the camera 202 can detect the loss or increase of water remaining on top of the resist indicating a problem with the liquid confinement system. For example, fiber contamination can also be detected by the camera 202.

An illuminator 203 (light source) is provided to illuminate the substrate for imaging. Ideally, the illuminator 203 provides oblique lighting in order to highlight contaminants. The wavelength of the light output by the illuminator 203 can be selected to maximize the contrast of expected pollutants. If the wavelength can be controlled, for example, by selectively exciting different light sources in the illuminator, then images under different colors of illumination can be captured to assist in identifying different pollutants. The wavelength of the light output by the illuminator 203 may be in the range of infrared to ultraviolet.

The illuminator 203 can also be used with a simple light intensity detector to detect pollutants. The first light intensity detector 204 is configured to detect light specularly reflected from the substrate, and the second light intensity detector 204 is configured to detect light scattered from the substrate. The increase in the intensity of the scattered light and the decrease in the intensity of the specular reflection indicate the presence of contaminants on the substrate.

A second camera 207 (or a plurality of second cameras 207) may be provided to image the substrate (for example, the transparent substrate TW) from below. Imaging the lower surface of the substrate makes it possible to detect contaminants such as particles that can adhere to the lower surface of the substrate, such as particles originating from the substrate holder. Imaging the lower surface of the substrate can also enable detection of damage caused by substrate handling components such as e-pins or substrate handling robots. If the transparent substrate is used as a witness substrate, the contaminants on both the top surface and the bottom surface can be detected at the same time.

A size sensor 209 (such as a laser gauge) is provided to measure the size of the substrate. Damage to the edge of the substrate that can be detected by the size sensor can indicate a problem with the lithography device or other tools in the coating and development system.

The environment sensor 210 can be provided to sense the parameters or characteristics of the environment of the enhanced FOUP. The environment sensor 210 may be, for example, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, or a chemical sensor. The chemical sensor can be configured to detect specific compounds, such as volatile organic compounds degassed from the photosensitive layer on the substrate. The anomaly measurement performed by the environmental sensor can indicate an error in the lithography device. Measurements made by environmental sensors can provide context for measurements made by other sensors.

The enhanced FOUP 200 may be provided with a controller 206, which is schematically depicted in more detail in FIG. 6. The controller 206 may include a sensor interface 2061, a central processing unit (CPU) 2062, a memory (such as RAM) 2063, a network interface 2064, and a graphics processing unit (GPU) 2065.

The sensor interface 2061 is configured to connect to various sensors that form a sensor system, such as cameras 202, 207, etc., and transmit data and control signals. The sensor interface 2061 can be connected to the sensor via wires, optical fibers, or wirelessly (for example, using a communication protocol such as Bluetooth™). The sensor interface 2061 can also be configured to communicate with inspection substrates IW, which can include sensors for inspecting components of the lithography device (such as liquid confinement systems), such as cameras or pressure sensors . Further details of the detection substrate that can be used with the embodiments of the present invention are disclosed in WO 2018/077517, WO 2017/008993, WO 2017/08931, WO 2018/007119, WO 2018/007118, and research invention RD652040. These documents It is hereby incorporated by reference.

The CPU 2062 is configured to execute programs stored in the memory 2063 and store data such as measurement results in the memory 2063. The program stored in the memory 2063 can perform the analysis of the measurement result, or only control the measurement procedure when the analysis is performed elsewhere. When the analysis is performed by the controller 206 and involves the analysis of the image, the GPU 2065 can be used to accelerate the processing of the image.

The network interface 2064 communicates with external systems such as the controller 500 of the lithography device or the lithography cluster or the supervisory control system 600 of the fab. The network interface 2064 can communicate via a wired connection or a wireless protocol such as WiFi™.

The image analysis used to detect pollution (whether executed in enhanced FOUP or externally) can utilize various techniques. In some cases, contamination or other problem indicators in the lithography device can be detected simply by comparing the image of the substrate before and after the process steps have been performed or by comparing the image of the substrate with a reference image. In other cases, more sophisticated techniques such as using machine learning can be used.

The enhanced FOUP 200 has a housing 211 for protecting the substrate and other components. The housing 211 is ideally opaque so that the internal optical sensor is not affected by changes in ambient lighting conditions. The housing 211 desirably has a non-reflective inner surface to minimize light scattering from the light source 203.

An exemplary method according to an embodiment of the invention is schematically depicted in FIG. 6. First, the substrate is loaded with S1 into the enhanced FOUP, and an appropriate sensor in the enhanced FOUP as described above is used to detect S2. The substrate may be a production substrate, that is, a substrate to be exposed to form a device thereon, or a special substrate as described above. Then, the substrate is loaded into the lithography device, and S3 is exposed to form a latent image thereon. Then, the substrate is transferred to the enhanced FOUP and S4 is inspected again. After this second inspection, the substrate is transferred to the program tool in the coating and development system and a pattern transfer step S5 such as etching or implanting is performed. Then, the substrate is transferred to the enhanced FOUP and inspected for the third time S6. It should be noted that different detection steps need not be performed in the same enhanced FOUP. For example, the enhanced FOUP can be installed on a program tool instead of a lithography device.

Analyze the results of S2, S4 and S6 S7. Analysis S7 can be performed on a single result alone, or can be performed on multiple results using the same or different substrates. It can be analyzed in enhanced FOUP or other computer systems.

In the case that the analysis S7 of the test results indicates a problem, corrective measures S8 are implemented. Corrective measures can take any of several different forms. For example, inspected substrates and/or substrates from the same or similar batches can be reworked. The subsequent process steps can be changed to compensate for the detected problems. It can be calibrated corresponding to the program steps used in subsequent batches of substrates. The lithography device or program tool can be recalibrated. Maintenance actions such as cleaning actions can be performed in the lithography device or program tool. A combination of some or all of these actions can be performed.

The method in Figure 6 is an example of monitoring the manufacturing process to detect problems. The present invention can also be used to assist in diagnosing problems such as yield loss, for example, to determine which of the many sub-steps performed on the substrate when exposed to the lithography device is the cause of the problem. In the diagnostic mode, the substrate is tested in the enhanced FOUP, loaded into the lithography device, performed a limited number of sub-steps, unloaded and tested again. Repeat the procedure in which different sets of sub-steps are executed. For example, in the first iteration, only the substrate can be loaded and limited. In the second iteration, the substrate can be loaded, confined, transported to an exposure station (in a dual stage device) and exposed to an immersion liquid. The comparison of test results can help identify which sub-step is the cause of contamination.

The lithography device or the program tool may have a load lock to allow the substrate to be directly transferred between the lithography device and the program tool. In this case, the port used to attach the FOUP may only be rarely used. Therefore, the enhanced FOUP according to the present invention can be permanently or semi-permanently attached to the FOUP port of the lithography device or process tool without significantly affecting the normal operation of the fab.

If the present invention is to be used in a fab that conventionally uses FOUP to transfer wafers between tools, the enhanced FOUP is ideally compatible with FOUP handling devices or manual handling protocols in use.

Although the use of lithography devices in IC manufacturing can be specifically referred to herein, it should be understood that the lithography devices described herein can have other applications, such as manufacturing integrated optical systems and guiding magnetic domain memory. Lead and detect patterns, flat panel displays, liquid crystal displays (LCD), thin film magnetic heads, etc. Those familiar with this technology should understand that in the context of these alternative applications, any use of the term "wafer" or "die" in this article can be considered synonymous with the more general term "substrate" or "target part" respectively. . The mentioned herein can be processed in, for example, a coating and development system (a tool that typically applies a resist layer to a substrate and develops the exposed resist), a metrology tool, and/or an inspection tool, before or after exposure The substrate. Where applicable, the disclosure in this article can be applied to these and other substrate processing tools. In addition, the substrate can be processed more than once, for example, in order to produce a multilayer IC, so that the term substrate used herein can also refer to a substrate that already contains one or more processed layers.

Although specific reference may have been made above to the use of embodiments of the present invention in the context of optical lithography, it should be understood that the present invention can be used in other applications.

Although the specific embodiments of the present invention have been described above, it should be understood that the present invention can be practiced in other ways than those described.

The above description is intended to be illustrative, not restrictive. Therefore, it will be obvious to those familiar with the art that the invention as described can be modified without departing from the scope of the patent application set out below.

Item:

1. A container for a substrate, comprising: a location, which is configured to store the substrate; and a port, which is configured to connect to a lithography device and enable the substrate to be transferred to and from the lithography device ; And the sensor system, which is configured to detect the characteristics of the substrate stored in the storage location and provide sensor signals.

2. The container as in Clause 1, wherein the sensor system includes a camera.

3. The container of clause 2, wherein the camera is configured to image one of the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate.

4. The container of Clause 2 or 3, in which the camera can detect contaminants with a size of 1 μm or more on the surface of the substrate.

5. The container of any one of the preceding items, which further comprises a light source configured to guide light to the surface of the substrate.

6. The container of Clause 5, wherein the sensor system includes a light sensor configured to detect light scattered from contaminants on the surface of the substrate.

7. The container of any one of the preceding clauses, wherein the sensor system includes an environmental sensor configured to sense at least one of temperature, humidity, and the presence of one or more predetermined compounds One.

8. The container according to any one of the preceding items, wherein the sensor system is configured to measure the physical size of the substrate.

9. The container according to any one of the preceding items, which further includes a processor and a memory, and the memory stores a program including a code member that instructs the processor to analyze the sensor signal.

10. The container of any one of the preceding items, which further includes an interface configured to communicate with, for example, a lithography device or an external data processing system in a fab.

11. The container of clause 10, which further comprises an outer casing surrounding the location and the sensor system, wherein the outer casing is opaque and/or has a non-reflective inner surface.

12. The container according to any one of the preceding clauses, further comprising a substrate interface configured to communicate with electronic devices on the substrate.

13. The container according to any one of the preceding clauses, wherein the port is located on the side of the container, which side is substantially perpendicular to the substrate when stored in position.

14. The container according to any one of the preceding items, wherein the port meets at least one of the SEMI standards: SEMI E47.1106, SEMI E62-1106, SEMI E158-0134, and SEMI E162-0912.

15. A device manufacturing method that uses a lithography device with a projection system to project an image onto a substrate held on a substrate holder, the method comprising: connecting a transportable container to the lithography device, the transportable container having: position , Which stores the substrate; a port, which is configured to connect to the lithography device and enables the substrate to be transferred to and from the lithography device; and a sensor system, which is configured to measure and store in the storage location Load the substrate from the container to the lithography device; perform actions on the substrate in the lithography device; unload the substrate from the lithography device to the container; and use the sensor to measure the substrate after unloading, To produce measurement results.

16. The method of clause 15, wherein the substrate is one of a production substrate, a witness substrate, a cleaning substrate, a transparent substrate, and a detection substrate.

17. The method of clause 15 or 16, wherein the actions include at least one of the following: clamping the substrate to the substrate holder; performing measurement on the substrate in the lithography device; restricting the immersion liquid to the substrate Contact space; use radiation projection beam to expose the substrate; and unload the substrate from the substrate holder.

18. The method of clause 15, 16 or 17, further comprising: repeating the steps of loading, executing actions, unloading, and using sensors, wherein in the repeated steps of executing actions, different actions or action sets are executed.

19. The method according to any one of Clause 15 to Clause 18, further comprising an initial measurement step. Before the loading step, the initial measurement step is performed on the substrate using a sensor to generate an initial measurement result .

20. The method according to any one of clauses 15 to 19, further comprising analyzing measurement results and executing corrective measures, wherein the corrective measures include one or more of the following: heavy industry one or more production substrates; modification Program formula; calibrate the lithography device; and perform maintenance actions on the lithography device.

10: Infiltration space 12: Liquid restriction structure 12a: internal part 12b: External part 18: Gas recovery opening 20: Supply opening 21: Recovery opening 22: upper surface 23: Supply opening below 24: overflow opening 25: porous member 26: Air knife opening 30: Inverted truncated cone shape 32: Pinned opening 33: Meniscus 34: supply opening 35: Chamber 36: Channel 38: Channel 39: inner periphery 40: Board 42: Intermediate recycling parts 60: substrate support 100: Final lens element 200: Enhanced FOUP 201: Storage location 202: Camera 203: Illuminator 204: Light intensity detector 206: Controller 207: Second camera 209: size sensor 210: Environmental Sensor 211: Shell 212: Port 300: complementary part 500: Controller 600: Supervisory Control System 2061: Sensor interface 2062: Central Processing Unit 2063: memory 2064: network interface 2065: graphics processing unit B: radiation beam BD: beam delivery system C: target part IF: Position measurement system IL: lighting system IW: Inspection substrate LR: Loading robot M1: Mask alignment mark M2: Mask alignment mark MA: Patterned device MT: Mask support P1: substrate alignment mark P2: substrate alignment mark PM: the first locator PS: Projection system PW: second locator S1: Step S2: Step S3: steps S4: Step S5: Step S6: Step S7: steps S8: steps SO: radiation source TW: Transparent substrate W: substrate X: X axis y: y axis z: z axis

The embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying schematic drawings only by means of examples. In these drawings, corresponding reference signs indicate corresponding parts, and in the drawings:

Figure 1 schematically depicts the lithography device;

Figure 2 schematically depicts an infiltrating liquid confinement structure for use in a lithographic projection device;

Fig. 3 is a side cross-sectional view schematically depicting another infiltration limiting structure according to the embodiment;

Figure 4 depicts a container for a substrate according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 5 depicts the control system of an embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 6 depicts a method according to an embodiment of the invention.

200: Enhanced FOUP

201: Storage location

202: Camera

203: Illuminator

204: Light intensity detector

206: Controller

207: Second camera

209: size sensor

210: Environmental Sensor

211: Shell

212: Port

300: complementary part

IW: Inspection substrate

LR: Loading robot

TW: Transparent substrate

Claims (15)

A container for substrates, which contains: A storage location, which is configured to store a substrate; A port configured to connect to a lithography device and enable the substrate to be transferred to and from the lithography device; and A sensor system configured to detect a characteristic of the substrate stored in the storage location and provide a sensor signal. Such as the container of claim 1, wherein the sensor system includes a camera. Such as the container of claim 2, wherein the camera is configured to image one of the upper and lower surfaces of the substrate. Such as the container of claim 3, wherein the camera can detect a contaminant having a size of 1 μm or more on a surface of the substrate. Such as the container of claim 1 or 3, which further includes a light source configured to direct light to a surface of the substrate. The container of claim 5, wherein the sensor system includes a light sensor configured to detect light scattered from a contaminant on a surface of the substrate. Such as the container of claim 1, wherein the sensor system includes an environmental sensor configured to sense at least one of temperature, humidity, and the presence of one or more predetermined compounds. Such as the container of claim 1, wherein the sensor system is configured to measure a physical size of the substrate. Such as the container of claim 1, which further includes an interface configured to allow the sensor signal to communicate with an external data processing system. A device manufacturing method, which uses a lithography device with a projection system to project an image onto a substrate held on a substrate holder, The method includes: Connect a container for the substrate to the lithography device, the container has: a storage location for storing the substrate; a port configured for connecting to the lithography device, and the substrate Can be transmitted to and from the lithography device; and a sensor system configured to measure a parameter of the substrate stored in the storage location; Loading the substrate from the container to the lithography device; Projecting the image onto the substrate in the lithography device; Unloading the substrate from the lithography device to the container; and After the unloading, use the sensor to perform a measurement on the substrate, thereby generating a measurement result. The method of claim 10, wherein the substrate is one of a production substrate, a witness substrate, a cleaning substrate, a transparent substrate, and a detection substrate. Such as the method of claim 10, which further includes an initial measurement step. Before the step of loading the substrate from the container to the lithography device, the sensor is used to perform the initial measurement step on the substrate, thereby Generate an initial measurement result. Such as the method of claim 10, which further includes analyzing the measurement result, and performing a corrective measure based on the analysis of the measurement result. Such as the method of claim 12, which further includes analyzing the measurement result and the initial measurement result, and performing a corrective measure based on the analysis of the measurement result and the initial measurement result. Such as the method of claim 13 or 14, wherein the corrective measure includes one or more of the following: rework one or more production substrates; modify a program recipe; calibrate the lithography device; and execute the lithography device One maintenance action.

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