WO2002067303A1 - Exposure system, exposure device and device production method - Google Patents

Abstract

A coater/developer (50) for applying resist to a wafer (W) for developing thereon is connected inline with the body chamber (12) of an exposure device (10) by a transfer chamber (70) having a wafer transfer unit thereinside. The transfer chamber is connected with a supply/exhaust device (85) which replaces gas in the transfer chamber with one of a dry air, nitrogen and a rare gas. Therefore, chemical contaminants produced in the coater/developer are removed in the transfer chamber before they intrudes into the body chamber when a resist-coated wafer is carried into the body chamber. Therefor, the contents of chemical substances in a gas flowing into the body chamber are held below specified values to thereby restrict a reduction in exposure light transmittance and deterioration in image plane luminance in an exposure device body in the body chamber.

Description

 Specification

Exposure system, exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method

 The present invention relates to an exposure system, an exposure apparatus, and a device manufacturing method, and more particularly, to an exposure system and an exposure apparatus used in a lithographic process for manufacturing micro devices such as semiconductor elements and liquid crystal display elements. The present invention relates to a device manufacturing method used. Background art

 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a lithographic process for manufacturing a semiconductor device, a liquid crystal display device, and the like, a step-and-repeat type reduction projection exposure apparatus (so-called stepper) and a step-and-scan type scanning projection exposure apparatus (so-called scanining) An exposure apparatus such as a gas stepper is used.

 In recent years, in these exposure apparatuses, the circuit pattern has become finer in accordance with the higher integration of semiconductor elements and the like, and the need for improved resolution has been inevitably increased. ing. At present, KrF excimer lasers with an oscillation wavelength of 2488 nm and shorter wavelengths of 19.3 nm have been used as light sources.

By the way, it has recently been found that a trace amount of gas in the atmosphere around the exposure apparatus has an adverse effect on the exposure apparatus. In other words, as the wavelength of the exposure light becomes shorter and the illuminance becomes higher, for example, ammonia gas, sulfur oxide, or an organic silicon compound in the atmosphere receives strong energy due to short-wavelength ultraviolet rays to cause a photochemical reaction. Precipitates as a cloudy substance on the surface of the optical components inside. When this precipitation reaches a certain amount, it causes scattering and absorption of the exposure light, This causes a phenomenon such as a decrease in illuminance and a deterioration in in-plane uniformity of illuminance. It is also known that water vapor in a gas causes fogging on the surface of an optical component in an exposure apparatus.

 Also, recently, from the viewpoint of increasing the sensitivity of the resist to compensate for the lack of brightness of the light source, as a resist applied on the substrate, the photosensitive agent in the resist contains an acid generator, The generated acid induces a catalytic reaction in the subsequent heat treatment (PEB), and promotes insolubilization (negative type) or solubilization (positive type) in the developer. Ied resist) is used.

 For example, when a positive-type chemically amplified resist is applied on a substrate, a small amount of ppb-level basic gas in the atmosphere neutralizes the acid catalyst generated on the surface of the positive-type chemically amplified resist. After the formation of the surface insoluble layer, exposure and development, a phenomenon occurs in which the resist cross section, which should become rectangular, forms an eaves resembling a T-shape, called a T-shape. Since a chemically amplified resist, which is a highly sensitive resist, cannot be used as it is, over-coating or the like is required, and throughput is reduced.

 For these reasons, current exposure equipment requires strict control of the internal environment.

 Recently, during the lithographic process, in order to perform each process of resist coating, exposure, and development as a series of processes as efficiently as possible, the exposure system was changed to a coater / developer (CoaterZDeveloper: hereafter referred to as “C / D” as appropriate). The lithography system connected in-line with that described above is becoming mainstream. In such a lithography system, the transfer of the substrate between the exposure apparatus and the CZD is performed by providing openings on the respective walls adjacent to the chamber constituting the exposure apparatus and the CZD, and transporting the robot through these openings. It is performed by a tool or the like.

However, as mentioned above, it is installed on the adjacent wall between the chamber and CZD. It has been found that when the substrate is transferred through the opened opening, the environment inside the chamber deteriorates when the apparatus is operated for a long period of time. This is because chemical contaminants generated in the CZD and contaminants in the clean room enter the chamber through openings formed in the chamber when replacing wafers, etc. Is lower than the surrounding area, the environment is particularly degraded. At this stage, as a countermeasure against the deterioration of the environment inside the chamber, it is conceivable to connect C and the chamber by a substrate transfer path and exhaust the gas inside the chamber. However, in this method, it is not always possible to suppress the amount of contaminants entering the chamber to within an allowable range. The present invention has been made under such circumstances, and its first object is Is an exposure system and exposure system that can reduce the amount of chemicals that cause environmental degradation in the atmosphere of the exposure equipment including the stage atmosphere, and maintain the yield of the final product device over a long period of time. It is to provide a device.

 A second object of the present invention is to provide a device manufacturing method capable of improving the productivity of a highly integrated device. Disclosure of the invention

 According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an exposure apparatus main body that exposes a substrate held on a stage by an energy beam via an optical system; and a substrate processing apparatus that performs a predetermined process on the substrate. A transfer device for transferring the substrate between the stage and the substrate processing apparatus, and dry air, nitrogen and rare gas in at least a part of a space of the substrate transfer path between the stage and the substrate processing apparatus. And an atmosphere forming device for forming any atmosphere of a gas.

Here, "the space J of at least a part of the substrate transfer path between the stage and the substrate processing apparatus is regarded as the space between the stage and the substrate processing apparatus. However, it also includes the space where the stage or the substrate processing apparatus exists.

 According to this, an atmosphere formation for forming an atmosphere of any of dry air, nitrogen, and a rare gas in at least a part of a space of a substrate transfer path by the substrate transfer device between the stage and the substrate processing apparatus. Equipment. For this reason, for example, the specific chemical substance which is generated in the substrate processing apparatus and causes the environmental deterioration of the exposure apparatus main body is removed by the atmosphere forming apparatus, whereby the specific chemical substance in the exposure apparatus main body atmosphere including the stage atmosphere is removed. Since the content can be suppressed to a predetermined value or less, it is possible to suppress the deterioration of the illuminance of the energy beam in the exposure apparatus main body. As a result, it is possible to maintain the yield of the final device for a long time.

 In this case, the substrate processing apparatus may perform at least one of application and development of a photosensitive agent on the substrate. That is, the substrate processing apparatus can be any one of a coater, a developer, and a developer.

 In this case, the atmosphere forming apparatus further includes: a chamber that houses the exposure apparatus main body; and a machine room that houses at least a part of an air conditioner that performs air conditioning in the chamber. A chamber may be connected to the substrate processing apparatus, and a transfer chamber having a transfer unit for transferring the substrate between the substrate processing apparatus and the exposure apparatus body may be provided therein.

In this case, a supply / exhaust device that supplies any of the dry air, the nitrogen, and the rare gas into the delivery chamber and exhausts the gas in the delivery chamber to the outside may be further provided. In such a case, in the transfer chamber, any of dry air, nitrogen, and a rare gas is supplied by the air supply / exhaust device, and the internal gas is exhausted to the outside of the transfer chamber. That is, the gas is replaced. As a result, the environment of the The causing chemical substances can be efficiently removed.

 In this case, it is possible to further include a baking device arranged inside the transfer chamber and for baking the substrate.

 In this case, the substrate processing apparatus may be a coater (resist coating apparatus) or any other apparatus. However, when the substrate processing apparatus is any one of a coater and a developer, the substrate processing apparatus may be used. Can be a post-exposure bake.

 In the exposure system of the present invention, when the above-described baking device is provided, the delivery of the substrate may be performed on the baking device. In the exposure system of the present invention, the substrate processing apparatus may be a coater / developer. In such a case, in the substrate processing apparatus, if the photosensitive agent applied to the substrate is a chemically amplified resist, the occurrence of T: E is reduced, so that overcoating is not required and throughput is reduced. It is possible to improve the birds.

 In the exposure system according to the aspect of the invention, the substrate processing apparatus may be a position shift correction apparatus that performs a process for correcting a position shift of the substrate. In this specification, "processing for correcting a substrate displacement" refers to a process for detecting a substrate displacement based on information such as a mark formed on the substrate or an outer shape of the substrate, and a process for detecting the positional displacement. It refers to any process related to the correction of the position shift, such as the process of correcting and positioning the substrate and the process of detecting the position shift and correcting the position shift based on the detection result.

 In this case, the apparatus may further include a chamber accommodating the exposure apparatus main body, and the substrate processing apparatus may be disposed in the chamber.

In the exposure system of the present invention, when the substrate processing apparatus is a displacement correction device, the atmosphere forming device can be provided in the displacement correction device. In the exposure system according to the aspect of the invention, when the substrate processing apparatus is a misregistration correction apparatus, the atmosphere forming apparatus includes the dry air and the dry air at any time while the substrate is present on the misalignment correction apparatus. One of nitrogen and the rare gas may be sprayed on at least a part of the surface of the substrate. Here, any time during which the substrate is present on the misalignment correction device is, literally, between the time when the substrate is loaded on the misalignment correction device for processing for misalignment correction and the time when the substrate is unloaded. It is any time between them, and thus naturally includes both during the process for correcting the positional deviation and after the process is completed.

 In the exposure system of the present invention, when the substrate processing apparatus is a misregistration correction device, the atmosphere forming device includes: between the misalignment correction device and the stage, the dry air, the nitrogen, and the rare gas on the substrate. Any of the above can be sprayed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided at least an exposure apparatus main body for exposing a substrate with an energy beam via an optical system; a chamber for accommodating the exposure apparatus main body; and an air conditioner for performing air conditioning in the chamber. A machine room accommodating a part of the substrate; and a substrate processing apparatus for performing at least one of application and development of a photosensitive agent on the substrate, and inside the substrate processing apparatus, the substrate processing apparatus and the exposure apparatus main body. A delivery chamber provided with a delivery unit for delivery; and a supply / exhaust device for supplying any of dry air, nitrogen, and a rare gas into the delivery chamber, and exhausting gas in the delivery chamber to the outside. This is the first exposure apparatus provided. According to this, a transfer chamber having a transfer unit used for transferring a substrate between a substrate processing apparatus that performs at least one of application and development of a photosensitive agent on a substrate and an exposure apparatus main body is provided in the substrate processing apparatus. It is connected. In the transfer chamber, any of dry air, nitrogen, and a rare gas is supplied by a supply / exhaust device, and the internal gas is exhausted to the outside of the transfer chamber. That is, the gas is replaced. Therefore, the environment inside the chamber generated in the substrate processing equipment By removing the chemical substance causing the deterioration in the transfer chamber, the content of the chemical substance in the gas flowing into the chamber can be suppressed to a predetermined value or less. As a result, it is possible to suppress the deterioration of the illuminance of the energy beam in the main body of the exposure apparatus. As a result, it is possible to maintain the yield of the final product for a long time. In particular, when the photosensitizer applied to the substrate is a chemically amplified resist, the occurrence of T-c: iv is reduced, thus eliminating the need for overcoating and improving throughput. It is possible to plan.

 According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an exposure apparatus main body for exposing a substrate held on a stage by an energy beam via an optical system; and a displacement correction for performing a process for correcting the displacement of the substrate. An apparatus; and the misalignment correction apparatus; and any one of dry air, nitrogen, and a rare gas is provided between the misalignment correction apparatus and the stage. A supply gas supply device.

 According to this, there is provided a misregistration correction device, or a gas supply device that is provided between the misregistration correction device and the stage and that supplies any of dry air, nitrogen, and a rare gas to at least a part of the surface of the substrate. ing. For this reason, for example, by removing the chemical substance adhering to the substrate surface and deteriorating the environment of the exposure apparatus main body by the gas supply device, the content of the chemical substance in the exposure apparatus main body atmosphere including the stage atmosphere is reduced to a predetermined value or less. As a result, it is possible to suppress the deterioration of the illuminance of the energy beam in the exposure apparatus main body. As a result, it is possible to maintain the yield of the final product for a long time.

 In this case, the gas supply device can be provided in the displacement correction device.

In the second exposure apparatus of the present invention, the gas supply device may include any one of the dry air, the nitrogen, and the rare gas during any time while the substrate is present on the displacement correcting device. Spraying on at least a part of the surface of the substrate It can be.

 In the second exposure apparatus of the present invention, the gas supply device may include any one of the dry air, the nitrogen, and the rare gas on a transfer path of the substrate between the displacement correction device and the stage. It can be sprayed on the substrate. In addition, in the lithographic process, by using any one of the exposure system and the exposure apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to suppress the deterioration of the illuminance of the energy beam in the exposure apparatus body. Therefore, highly integrated microdevices can be manufactured with high yield. Therefore, from another viewpoint, the present invention may be a device manufacturing method using any of the exposure system and the exposure apparatus of the present invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

 FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an exposure system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

 FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG.

 FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the delivery chamber in a partially crushed state.

 FIGS. 4A to 4C are diagrams for explaining a method of transferring a wafer between the coater's developer and the main chamber.

 FIG. 5A is an enlarged view of a wafer loader chamber of the exposure system according to the second embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5B is a view of the vicinity of the wafer position correction device of FIG. 5A as viewed from above. It is. *

 FIG. 6 is an enlarged view showing a wafer loader chamber of an exposure system according to a modification.

 FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining an embodiment of the device manufacturing method according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of step 204 in FIG. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

 << 1st Embodiment >>

 Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 schematically illustrates the entire configuration of an exposure system 100 according to the first embodiment.c The exposure system 100 includes an exposure apparatus 100 disposed on a floor F, A coater as a substrate processing apparatus arranged at a predetermined interval on one side (one Y side) in the longitudinal direction of the exposure apparatus 10 ■ Developer (CZD) 50, exposure apparatus 10 and CZD 50 It has a transfer room 70 connected in-line.

 The exposure apparatus 10 includes a main body chamber 12 installed on a floor F in a clean room, and a machine room 14 arranged adjacent to the main body chamber 12.

 Environmental conditions (cleanliness, temperature, pressure, etc.) are kept almost constant inside the main chamber 12, and one large room 16 on the machine room 14 side and this large room On the opposite side of the machine room 14 of 16, there are provided two small rooms 18 and 20 which are arranged in upper and lower two tiers. The large room 16 is an exposure room in which the exposure apparatus main body 22 is housed. Hereinafter, this large room 16 is referred to as an exposure room 16.

One of the small rooms 18 has a reticle library 80 for storing a plurality of reticles as masks inside it, and a reticle port 82 composed of a horizontal articulated robot. They are arranged sequentially from the side. The reticle loader 82 carries the reticle R onto a reticle stage RST, which will be described later, constituting the exposure apparatus main body 22, and unloads it from the reticle stage RST. In the present embodiment, a reticle loader system is configured by the reticle library 80 and the reticle loader 82, and the reticle loader system is accommodated in the small room 18. Therefore, in the following, the small room 18 and the reticle loader room 18 Shall be called.

 The reticle loader system is not limited to the above configuration. For example, a pottom open type closed cassette (container) capable of storing a plurality of reticles may be used instead of the reticle library 80, Alternatively, a mechanism for sliding the transfer arm may be used as a reticle loader. In addition, the reticle storage unit (reticle library 80) and the reticle loader 82 may be arranged in different rooms, or the above-mentioned hermetically sealed cassette is placed on the upper part of the reticle loader room 18 and its airtightness is set. The reticle may be carried into the reticle loader chamber 18 by bottom-opening while maintaining the performance. That is, only the reticle loader may be arranged in the small room 18.

 In the other small room 20, a wafer coated with a resist by the CZD 50 is loaded into the wafer carrier 84 and the wafer carrier 84 for storing a plurality of wafers as substrates. Or a horizontal articulated robot 86 for unloading the wafer W exposed by the exposure apparatus main body 22 from the small room 20 toward the CZD 50, and the robot 86 and the exposure apparatus main body 22 And a wafer transfer device 88 for transferring a wafer to and from a wafer stage WST as a substrate stage constituting the semiconductor device. In the present embodiment, the wafer carrier 84, the robot 86, and the wafer transfer device 88 constitute a wafer loader system, and the wafer porter system is housed in the small room 20. Thus, hereinafter, the small room 20 is referred to as a wafer loader room 20. In practice, as shown in FIG. 4A and the like, an entrance / exit relo 20a is formed on the side wall on the 1Y side that divides the wafer loader chamber 20. The entrance / exit relo 20a has a structure that can be opened and closed by a door 21. The door 21 is controlled to be opened and closed by a control device (not shown) via a drive system (not shown).

Note that the wafer loader system is not limited to the above-described configuration. For example, the wafer loader system may be configured only with an articulated robot. Returning to FIG. 1, the exposure chamber 16, the reticle loader chamber 18, and the wafer loader chamber 20 are provided with an air supply line 24 made of a material with low degassing such as stainless steel (SUS) or Teflon (registered trademark). It is connected to the machine room 14 via an elastic bellows-like connection 26.

 The exposure apparatus main body 22 housed in the exposure chamber 16 includes an illumination optical system 28 including mirrors M 1 and M 2, a projection optical system PL disposed below the illumination optical system 28, A reticle stage RST arranged between the projection optical system PL and the illumination optical system 28 and holding the reticle R as a mask, a wafer stage arranged below the projection optical system PL and holding a wafer W as a substrate It has a main column 30 etc. that holds the WST and the projection optical system PL, and also has a wafer stage WS II.

 The illumination optical system 28 includes mirrors # 1 and # 2, an optical integrator, a field stop (both not shown), and the like. These optical members have a predetermined positional relationship in an illumination system housing (not shown). It is housed in. This illumination optical system 28 is connected to a KrF excimer laser (output wavelength: 248 nm) or an ArF excimer laser (output) as a light source (not shown) via a drawing optical system (relay optical system) not shown. It is connected to an excimer laser with a wavelength of 193 nm. The above-described routing optical system includes, at least in part, an optical system for adjusting an optical axis between the light source and the illumination optical system 28 called a beam 'matching unit'. Although not shown, the illumination system housing in which the illumination optical system 28 is accommodated, and the housing (barrel) in which the routing optical system is accommodated, each have an inert gas (for example, nitrogen or nitrogen). , Etc.) to maintain very good cleanliness.

Note that at least a part of the illumination optical system 28 may be arranged outside the exposure chamber 16, and in addition to this, or separately, the remaining excluding the light source, the routing optical system, and the illumination optical system 28 Part of the wafer (eg, wafer stage WS) is separate from the exposure chamber May be arranged in the case. In this case, the other casing may be disposed inside the exposure chamber 16 or outside the exposure chamber. In short, it is sufficient that at least a part of the exposure apparatus main body is arranged in the exposure chamber 16, and the members arranged in the exposure chamber 16 and the configuration thereof may be arbitrary.

 The main body column 30 is supported above a base plate BP installed on the bottom surface of the main body chamber 12 via a plurality of vibration isolating stands 32. The main body column 30 has a main column 34 supported by a vibration isolator 32 and a support column 36 erected above the main column 34. The projection optical system PL is held on the main frame forming the ceiling surface of the main column 34 via a holding member (not shown) called first invert with its optical axis direction being the vertical direction. Uses a reduction optical system with a projection magnification of 14 or 15. The support column 36 supports at least a part of the lighting system housing (not shown) from below.

Wafer stage WST is driven in a two-dimensional direction by a driving device such as a plane motor or a linear motor (not shown) on a stage base constituting a bottom plate of main column 34. The wafer W is fixed on the upper surface of the wafer stage WST via a wafer holder 38 by vacuum suction or the like. The position of wafer stage WST is measured at a resolution of, for example, about 0.5 to 1 nm by laser interferometer IF via a moving mirror (not shown) provided on wafer stage WST. Actually, the moving mirror is provided with an X moving mirror having a reflecting surface orthogonal to the X axis and a Y moving mirror having a reflecting surface orthogonal to the Y axis, and a laser interferometer is correspondingly provided. An X laser interferometer for measuring the X direction position and a Y laser interferometer for measuring the Y direction position are provided.In FIG. 1, these interferometers are shown as a laser interferometer IF as a representative. I have. In addition, for example, the end surface of the wafer stage WST may be mirror-finished to form a reflection surface (corresponding to the reflection surface of the above-described moving mirror). In addition, the X laser interferometer and the Y laser interferometer are multi-axis interferometers having a plurality of measurement axes. In addition to WST X and Y positions, rotation (rotation (0 z rotation around Z axis), pitching (0 X rotation around X axis), rolling (rotation around Y axis 0 y rotation)) can also be measured. Therefore, in the following description, it is assumed that the position of the wafer table 18 in the directions of five degrees of freedom of X, 丫, Θz, Θy _% θX is measured by the laser interferometer IF. In addition, the multi-axis interferometer tilts the laser beam by 45 ° to the reflecting surface provided on the main column 34 on which the projection optical system PL is mounted, via the reflecting surface provided on the wafer stage WST. Irradiation may be used to detect relative position information in the optical axis direction (Z-axis direction) of the projection optical system PL. The reticle stage RST is mounted on a reticle stage base (not shown) constituting a ceiling of a support member called a second invar (not shown) provided on the upper surface of the main column 34. The reticle stage RST is configured to be finely drivable in a horizontal plane when the exposure apparatus main body 22 performs static exposure, and is configured in addition to the above in the case of scanning exposure. It is configured to be able to be driven within a predetermined stroke range in the scanning direction.

 According to the exposure apparatus main body 22 configured as described above, the pulse ultraviolet light emitted from the excimer laser (not shown) is required to have the size and illuminance required by the illumination optical system 28 including various lenses and mirrors. The reticle R on which a predetermined pattern is formed is formed into a uniform pattern, and the pattern formed on the reticle R is illuminated on the wafer W held on the wafer stage WST via the projection optical system PL. It is designed to be reduced and transferred to the shot area.

 In this embodiment, for example, a wafer W having a surface coated with a positive chemically amplified resist as a photosensitive agent by a coater in CZD50 is used as the wafer W.

 A chemical filter C F 1 is disposed at one end (an end on the machine room 14 side) of the air supply pipe 24 in the main body chamber 12.

The other end of the air supply line 24 is branched into two, one of which is a reticule. Connected to the reticle loader chamber 18, the outlet on the reticle loader chamber 18 side has a ULPA filter (ultra low penetration air-filter) that removes particles in the air flowing into the reticle loader chamber 18. And a filter box AF1 composed of a filter plenum cover. Also, a return section 40 is provided on the opposite side of the reticle loader chamber 18 from the filter box AF 1, and one end of a return duct 42 as an exhaust path is connected to a portion outside the return section 40, The other end of the return duct 42 is connected to a part of the bottom of the machine room 14.

 The branch path 24a is further provided with a branch path 24c. The branch path 24c is connected to the wafer loader chamber 20. A filter box AF2 composed of a ULPA filter and a filter plenum for removing particles in the air flowing into the wafer loader chamber 20 is provided. A return section 44 is provided on the side of the wafer loader chamber 20 opposite to the filter box AF 2, and an exhaust port communicating with the return duct 42 is provided on the side of the return section 44 opposite to the wafer loader chamber 20. Is provided.

 Further, the other branch path 24 b is provided with an exposure chamber 16 arranged on the side of the reticle loader chamber 18 of the ejection port 90 formed at the boundary between the reticle loader chamber 18 and the exposure chamber 16. It is connected to a filter box AF3 consisting of a ULPA filter and a filter plenum for removing particles in the air flowing into the inside. Then, a uniform air current is sent from the outlet 90 into the upper space of the exposure chamber 16 by side flow. At the boundary between the reticle loader chamber 18 where the ejection port 90 is formed and the exposure chamber 16, as shown in FIG. Except for this, a plurality of filter poxes AF 3 are arranged around it.

As shown in FIG. 1, a return section 46 is provided on the bottom of the exposure chamber 16 on the side of the machine chamber 14. The return section 46 is provided on the bottom wall of the main chamber 12 below the return section 46. An exhaust port communicating with one end of a return duct 48 as an exhaust path is formed, and the other end of the return duct 48 is connected to a part of the bottom surface of the machine room 14. An OA port 49 as an outside air intake is formed at the bottom of the machine room 14 on the side opposite to the main chamber 12, and a chemical filter CF 4 is disposed opposite the OA port 49. . The inside of the main chamber 12, especially the inside of the exposure chamber 16, is always kept at a positive pressure against the outside in order to maintain cleanliness, so that air leaks from the front of the main chamber 12 to the outside. However, an OA port 49 is provided to take in the outside air of this leak. Further, in the present embodiment, the OA is used for the purpose of suppressing the deterioration of the environment inside the main body chamber 12 (so-called countermeasures against T-sive of the chemically amplified resist and suppressing the illuminance deterioration of the energy beam). A chemical filter CF 4 is provided at the OA port 49 to remove chemical contaminants (impurities) from the air taken into the exposure apparatus through the port 49 and to take only pure air into the apparatus. Have been.

 A cooler (dry coil) 52 is provided in the machine room 14 at a position slightly below the center in the height direction. At the outlet of the cooler 52, a first temperature sensor 54 for detecting the temperature of one surface of the cooler is arranged. The detection value of the first temperature sensor 54 is supplied to a control device (not shown).

 Above the cooler 52 in the air passage in the machine room 14, a first heater 56 is disposed at a predetermined distance from the cooler 52. A first blower 58 is disposed at an outlet of the machine room 14 above the first heater 56.

Below the first heater 56 in the air passage in the machine room 14, there is provided a branch passage 60 into which about 1/5 of the air that has passed through the cooler 52 from below to above flows thereinto. The end of the path 60 on the machine room 14 side is formed of a bellows-like member 60a which can be extended and contracted. The portion of the fork 60 that is on the opposite side of the bellows-like member 60 a from the machine room 14 is disposed in the exposure room 16. In the branch 60, a second heater 62 and a second blower 64 are sequentially arranged, and on the opposite side of the machine room 14 of the second blower 64, An air outlet is formed near the wafer stage WST. The cooler 52, the first heater 56, and the second heater 62 constitute a temperature adjusting device, and the temperature adjusting device, the first blower 58, the second blower 64, and a control system thereof, An air conditioner is configured.

 A filter box A F4 including a chemical filter C F2, a UL P A filter, and a filter plenum is arranged near the wafer stage WST at an outlet of the air sent from the second blower 64. Opposite to the ejection port provided with the chemical filter CF 2 and the filter box AF 4, an opening end on one end side of the return duct 66 as an exhaust path is provided in a portion of the exposure chamber 16 near the wafer loader chamber 20. The other end of the return duct 66 is connected to a part of the bottom surface of the machine room 14.

 An opening is formed in a part of the bottom surface of the machine room 14 to which the three return ducts 42, 48, and 66 are connected, and a chemical filter CF3 is provided to face the opening. . The chemical filter C F3 can be easily taken in and out through an opening / closing door (not shown) provided in the machine room 14.

 Further, a drain pan 68 is disposed below the cooler 52 in the machine room 14.

 A second temperature sensor 72 that detects the temperature of the air inside the air supply line 24 is disposed in a portion of the main body chamber 12 near the machine room 14 at the branch of the air supply line 24. ing. The detection value of the second temperature sensor 72 is supplied to a control device (not shown).

 Further, a third temperature sensor 74 for detecting the temperature of the air sent from the second blower 64 is disposed upstream of the chemical filter CF2. The detection value of the third temperature sensor 74 is supplied to a control device (not shown).

Next, air conditioning in the exposure apparatus 10 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. First, the first and second blowers 58, 64 are operated by a control device (not shown), whereby the reticle loader chamber 18 is moved through the filter boxes AF1, AF2, AF3, AF4, respectively. Air is sent into the wafer loader chamber 20, the exposure chamber 16, and the vicinity of the wafer stage WST in the exposure chamber 16, and air-conditioning of each section is performed. In this case, air conditioning is performed in the reticle loader chamber 18 and the wafer loader chamber 20 by a down flow. In the exposure chamber 16, air conditioning of each part of the exposure apparatus main body 22 during the above-described exposure operation is performed by a side flow. Then, the air returned to the return duct 42 via the return sections 40 and 44, the air returned to the return duct 48 via the return section 46, and the return duct 66, respectively. The air returned to the passage passes through a chemical filter CF3 provided at the outlet of the return duct on the machine room 14 side (in this embodiment, the inlet of the machine room 14). While passing through this chemical filter CF3, each return duct 42,

48, 66 Chemical contaminants contained in the air are adsorbed and removed by the chemical filter CF3.

 The chemical-clean air that has passed through the chemical filter CF 3 is taken in from outside the exposure apparatus through the OA port 49, and forms an air conditioner together with the chemical-clean air that has passed through the chemical filter CF 4. Cooler

Cooled to a predetermined temperature by 52. In this case, in the present embodiment, the cooling operation of the cooler 152 is controlled by the control device (not shown) while monitoring the output of the first temperature sensor 54, and at this time, the air flowing through the cooler portion is controlled. The cooler is cooled to a temperature that does not cause condensation on the surface of the cooler under humidity and pressure, for example, a temperature slightly higher than 5 ° C or around 15 ° C. As described above, since no condensation occurs on the surface of the cooler 52, no drain piping system is provided in the present embodiment. However, the failure of the first temperature sensor 54 or the occurrence of some malfunction of the cooler 52 may make it difficult to control the surface temperature of the cooler 52 as described above. Therefore, in this embodiment, the drain pan 68 is provided in consideration of such an emergency. -ing

 About 80% of the air cooled to a predetermined temperature after passing through the cooler 52 is sent to the first heater 56, and the remaining about 20 <½ flows into the second heater 6 in the branch passage 60. It is sent to 2 and heated to each target temperature. In this case, the control device (not shown) controls the first heater 56 based on the detection value of the second temperature sensor 72 and controls the second heater based on the detection value of the third temperature sensor 74. Feedback control of data 62. In this case, the target temperature (including the temperature control range) of the air blown into the exposure chamber 16 or the like via the air supply pipe 24 and the air blown into the vicinity of the wafer stage WST via the branch 60. The target air temperature (including the temperature control range) can be set individually.

 The chemically and substantially clean air heated to the respective target temperatures by the first and second heaters 56 and 62 is supplied to the chemical filters CF by the first and second blowers 58 and 64. 1 and CF 2 respectively. The air that has passed through the chemical filter CF 1 passes through the air supply line 24 in the main body chamber 12 and the filter boxes AF 1, AF 2, and AF 3, respectively, so that the reticle loader room 18 and the wafer loader room 2 0, and sent into the exposure chamber 16 respectively. The air that has passed through the chemical filter C F2 passes through the filter box A F4 and is sent into the vicinity of the wafer stage WST (and the laser interferometer IF).

Particles in the air are almost certainly removed by passing through the ULPA filters in the filter boxes AF1, AF2, AF3, AF4, respectively, so the reticle loader chamber 18, wafer loader chamber 20, exposure Only high-purity air is supplied to the interior of the room 16 and the vicinity of the WST near the WST, meaning that it does not contain fine particles such as particles and chemical contaminants. The reticle loader system, wafer loader system, and exposure apparatus main body 22 are air-conditioned. After the air conditioning is completed, chemically dirty air containing chemical contaminants caused by degassing from the exposure apparatus main body 22 and the like is returned to the return ducts 42, 48, and 66. Thereafter, the air conditioning of each section is repeatedly performed as described above.

 The CZD 50 includes a housing such as a chamber, a coater (resist coating device) (not shown) provided inside the housing, a developer (developing device), and a CZD transfer system 71 for transferring a wafer. It has. As shown in Fig. 4A, etc., the CZD50 case has an entrance / exit relo (opening) 50a formed on the side wall on the + Y side, and the entrance / exit relo 50a can be opened and closed by a door 51. It has a structure. The opening and closing of the door 51 is controlled by a control device (not shown) via a drive system (not shown).

 The transfer system 71 in the CZD is composed of a horizontal articulated robot, and transfers the wafer on which the resist coating has been performed in the coater in the CZD 50 to a baking device 77 in a transfer chamber 70 described later, and also as described above. It has a function of transporting the exposed wafer, which has been transported to the re-baking device 77 by the robot 86 in the wafer loader chamber 20 to the developer in the CZD 50.

 As shown in FIG. 1, a transfer chamber 70 for connecting the main body chamber 12 and the CZD 50 in-line is provided between the main chamber 12 and the CZD 50 constituting the exposure apparatus 10. ing. As can be seen from the perspective view of FIG. 3 in which a part of the transfer chamber 70 is crushed, a cylindrical member 73 having a rectangular XZ section is provided at both ends in the Y-axis direction of the cylindrical member 73. The XZ section is defined by a hollow housing composed of frames 75A and 75B which are rectangular and somewhat thicker than the cylindrical member 73. Inside the transfer chamber 70, a baking device 77 is provided.

 The cylindrical member 73 and the frames 75A and 75B are formed of a material with low degassing such as stainless steel (SUS) or Teflon (registered trademark).

The baking device 77 is mounted on the main body of the heater 79 and the heater 9 placed on the inner bottom surface of the transfer chamber 70, and its top surface (+ Z side surface) is And a hot plate 81 serving as a mounting surface.

 The heater 79 includes, for example, a heating device having an infrared heater, an infrared lamp, and the like, and the entire hot plate 81 is uniformly heated by the heater 79. It should be noted that a heater of a resistance heating system or a heater of a hot air heating system may be employed instead of the above-described heater of the infrared heating system. The hot plate 81 is formed of a disk-shaped metal plate, and the upper surface thereof is processed to be flat so that the wafer is not deformed even when the wafer is placed. In this hot plate 81, at least three (four in FIG. 3) circular round holes that are not aligned are formed in the vertical direction. The vertical movement pins 83 shown in FIG. 3 provided on the upper part of the main body of the heater 79 are inserted into these round holes, respectively. These vertically moving pins 83 are driven vertically by a drive mechanism (not shown). That is, the up-and-down movement pins 83 have respective round holes, and have a structure in which they can come and go on the upper surface side of the hot plate 81.

 Further, one end of each of an air supply pipe 87 A and an exhaust pipe 87 B is connected to a ceiling portion of the cylindrical member 73 forming the transfer chamber 70. The other end of the air supply pipe 87 A is connected to one end of the air supply / exhaust device 85 shown in FIG. 1, and the other end of the exhaust pipe 87 B is connected to the other end of the air supply / exhaust device 85. I have. The supply / exhaust device 85 has a supply device, an exhaust pump, a filter unit, and the like (all not shown) for supplying an inert gas (nitrogen, rare gas, etc.) therein. In the present embodiment, an inert gas is supplied from the supply device of the air supply / exhaust device 85 into the transfer chamber 70 via the filter unit and the air supply pipe 87 A, and the gas inside the transfer chamber 70 is exhausted. The pump is forcibly exhausted through the exhaust pipe 87B.

 That is, in the present embodiment, the transfer chamber 70 and the air supply / exhaust device 85 constitute an atmosphere forming device.

Next, via the transfer room 70 configured as above, the CZD 50 A series of operations for transferring a wafer W from the wafer into the wafer loader chamber 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4A to 4C and appropriately referring to other drawings. The operation of each of the following units is realized by a control operation of a control device (not shown), but the description of the control device is omitted here for simplicity.

 First, when the wafer W coated with the resist in the CZD 50 is transferred to the arm of the transfer system 71 in the CZD, the transfer of the wafer W to the transfer chamber 70 by the arm is performed. Be started. At this time, in the transfer chamber 70, the internal gas is replaced with the inert gas by the air supply / exhaust device 85 through the air supply pipe 87A and the exhaust pipe 87B in advance as described above. I have. Then, the door 51 is opened when the arm of the CZD transfer system 71 holding the wafer W approaches within a predetermined distance with respect to the transfer chamber 70. At this time, the entrance / exit 20a at the boundary between the transfer chamber 70 and the wafer loader chamber 20 is closed by the door 21. Before the door 51 is opened, gas replacement is temporarily stopped.

 Then, as shown in FIG. 4A, the arm of the transfer system 71 in the CZD holding the wafer W enters the transfer chamber 70, and the hot plate constituting the baking device 77 is provided. 8 1 Proceed and stop until it is located above (almost right above). In this state, when the vertical movement pins 83 are raised and the wafer W is supported by the vertical movement pins 83, the arms of the CZD transfer system 71 are retracted from the transfer chamber 70. Immediately after this, the door 51 is closed. In addition, the gas replacement in the delivery room 70 is restarted with the closing of the door 51.

Then, the wafer W is placed on the hot plate 81 as shown in FIG. 4B as the vertically moving pins 83 descend while supporting the wafer. At this time, since the hot plate 81 is heated by the heater 79 as described above, from the time when the wafer W is placed on the hot plate 81, a so-called pre-bake ( PAB) will be performed. In the transfer room 70, gas replacement is continued during this pre-baking (PAB), and inert gas (nitrogen , Helium, etc.) is maintained at a predetermined value or more, that is, the content of chemical pollutants and the like in the transfer chamber 70 is kept as low as possible.

 If the pre-bake has already been performed in the CZD 50, the pre-bake in the transfer chamber 70 as described above can be omitted. In this case, only the wafer transfer section may be provided in the transfer chamber 70. However, for the purpose of removing (evaporating) water adhering to the surface of the wafer W in the CZD 50, after the pre-bake in the CZD 50, the baking device in the transfer chamber 70 is again provided. Pre-bake can also be performed using 77. In this case, the temperature of the prebaker is lower than the temperature of the prebaker in the CZD 50 (for example, 110 ° C), and is sufficient to evaporate the attached moisture. (For example, the temperature of the hot plate 81 may be adjusted so as to be 105 ° C.).

In particular, when the exposure light is the F ₂ laser beam having a wavelength of 1 57 nm, since the absorption of the exposure light due to moisture adhering to the wafer W Table surface is enormous, complete pre-baking Te odor in CZD50 It is desirable to pre-bake again in the delivery room 70 even if The baking device 77 in the transfer chamber 70 is omitted, a baking device (or hot plate) is provided in the wafer loader room 20, and the pre-bake is performed in the main chamber 12 (wafer loader room 20). Is also good.

When the pre-bake (PAB) is completed, or when the pre-bake (PAB) is not performed in the transfer chamber 70, when a predetermined time elapses after the wafer is transferred to the wafer transfer section in the transfer chamber 70, While the gas replacement in the transfer chamber 70 is temporarily stopped, the door 21 of the wafer loader chamber 20 is opened by an opening / closing mechanism (not shown), and then the arm of the mouth pot 86 is connected as shown in FIG. 4C. As described above, the vehicle enters the transfer room 70. At this time, since the content of the chemical contaminants and the like in the transfer chamber 70 is set as low as possible, even if the door 21 is opened, Chemical contaminants and the like hardly enter the wafer loader chamber 20. At the same time as the arm of the robot 86 enters the transfer chamber 70, the vertical pins 83 move up, and the arm of the robot 86 enters the lower side of the wafer W. Then, the wafer W is delivered to the arm of the robot 86 when the vertically moving pin 83 descends again from this state. Then, immediately after the arm of the rod 86 holding the wafer W retreats from the transfer chamber 70, the door 21 is closed. Thus, the transfer of the wafer W from the CZ D 50 to the wafer loader chamber 20 is completed.

 The operation of transferring the wafer W from the inside of the wafer loader room 20 to the inside of the CZD 50 via the transfer room 70 is performed in a procedure substantially opposite to the above-described operation. That is, the wafer W for which exposure to all shot areas has been completed by the exposure apparatus body 22 in the exposure chamber 16 is transferred into the wafer opening chamber 20 by the wafer transfer apparatus 88 shown in FIG. Then, the wafer W is transferred to the arm of the robot 86, and the transfer of the wafer W to the transfer chamber 70 by the arm is started. Then, when the re-wafer W is carried into the transfer chamber 70 by the operation opposite to that described above, the re-wafer W is placed on the hot plate 81 of the baking device 77 via the vertically moving pins 83. At this time, since the hot plate 81 is heated, after the wafer W is placed on the hot plate 81, every post-exposure (PEB) is performed. During the post-exposure bake (PEB), the delivery chamber 70 is regassed by the air supply / exhaust device 85 via the air supply tube 87 A and the exhaust tube 87 B, and the inert gas ( The purity of nitrogen, helium, etc.) is kept above a specified value, that is, the content of chemical contaminants is kept as low as possible. Then, after completion of the post-exposure bake, the wafer W is carried into the CZD 50 by the CZD transfer system 71.

As is clear from the description so far, in the present embodiment, the delivery portion is configured by the vertically moving pins 83 constituting the baking device 77. The optical system is composed of the illumination optical system 28 and the projection optical system PL. As described above in detail, according to the exposure system 100 of the present embodiment, the transfer chamber that connects the CZD 50 and the main chamber 12 that constitutes the exposure apparatus 10 is provided.

70, an inert gas is supplied by a supply / exhaust device 85, and the supply / exhaust device

The gas in the transfer chamber 70 is exhausted to the outside by 85. For this reason, the intrusion of the chemical substance which affects the transmittance of the optical system and the like into the main body chamber 12 is suppressed. Also, when transferring the wafer between the main chamber 12 constituting the exposure apparatus 10 and the CZD 50, the outside air (atmosphere in a clean room) or ammonia gas, sulfur oxide, or an organic silicon compound, etc. The resist applied to the wafer can be prevented from being exposed to the gas containing impurities. That is, it is possible to prevent a change in the sensitivity of the resist applied to the wafer before or after the exposure. Accordingly, a decrease in the transmittance of the exposure light (energy beam) in the exposure apparatus main body 22, a deterioration in the illuminance on the image surface, or the occurrence of T: i: eve of the chemically amplified resist applied to the wafer is suppressed. Therefore, device yield can be maintained for a long time.

 In the present embodiment, a baking device for baking a wafer is arranged inside the transfer chamber 70, and baking is performed before and after exposure. As a result, it is possible to evaporate the residual solvent in the resist film applied to the wafer, enhance the adhesion between the resist film and the wafer, and promote the catalytic reaction of the chemically amplified resist. In this case, even if the residual solvent in the resist film is evaporated in the transfer chamber 70, the vapor of the residual solvent is discharged from the transfer chamber 70 by the supply / exhaust device 85, so that the exposure apparatus is configured. The impact on the internal environment of the main body chambers 1 and 2 is negligible.

Since the baking device 77 is provided in the transfer chamber 70, it is possible to evaporate (remove) water adhering to the surface of the wafer W. In particular, the exposure light having a wavelength of If it is the F ₂ laser beam can be suppressed the absorption of exposure light by the water adhering to the wafer W surface. In addition, since wafers are transferred on a baking device 77, baking and transfer can be performed quickly without providing a separate transfer mechanism, thereby improving throughput. It is possible.

 In addition, by providing a baking device 77 in the transfer room 70, pre-baking can be performed during gas replacement to reduce chemical pollutants and the like in the transfer room 70. Alternatively, since post-exposure baking can be performed, throughput can be improved as compared with the case where both operations are performed separately.

 In addition, according to the exposure system of the above embodiment, since the coater and the developer are connected in-line to the exposure apparatus, each process of resist coating, exposure, and development can be efficiently performed as a series of processes. It has become.

 In the above embodiment, the baking device is provided with only a hot plate and a heater for heating the hot plate. The present invention is not limited to this. For example, the uniformity of development is improved. For this purpose, a cooling plate for adjusting the temperature of the heated wafer to a predetermined temperature may be provided in addition to the hot plate before the wafer is transferred to the developer plate.

In the above embodiment, an inert gas (nitrogen, rare gas, or the like) is supplied from the air supply / exhaust device into the transfer chamber 70. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Dry air in which water vapor is removed from air may be used. However, when the exposure light is the F ₂ laser beam having a wavelength of 1 5 7 nm is (predetermined position of the wafer stage chamber) position exposure against the wafer is performed, and the oxygen in the air, the exposure light with steam As described later, the surrounding area is covered with a highly airtight partition to expel oxygen and water vapor from the internal space, and inert gas such as helium-nitrogen gas (exposure light It is necessary to replace the gas with a gas whose absorption is suppressed). Therefore, in order to prevent oxygen or water vapor from being mixed into the wafer stage chamber, it is necessary to provide the above-described gas replacement function in the wafer loader chamber 20 adjacent to the wafer stage chamber. The timing of gas replacement in the transfer chamber 70 is not limited to the timing shown in the above embodiment. That is, when the door 21 between the transfer chamber 70 and the wafer loader chamber 20 is opened, if the purity of the inert gas (nitrogen, helium, etc.) in the transfer chamber 70 is equal to or higher than a predetermined value. For good reasons, gas replacement may be started immediately before the door 21 is opened, and the door 21 may be opened when the inert gas reaches a predetermined purity.

 Further, the gas replacement in the transfer chamber 70 may be performed while a plurality of wafers are accommodated in the transfer chamber 70. Also, a plurality of hot plates may be installed in the transfer chamber 70, and a plurality of wafers may be simultaneously pre-baked.

 In the above embodiment, a coater (2) developer is adopted as an inline connection to the exposure apparatus. However, only a developer or only a coater may be connected inline.

 In addition, it is sufficient that at least the transfer section is provided in the transfer chamber, and the baking device does not necessarily need to be provided as in the present embodiment.

 In the above embodiment, the baking using the baking device is performed before and after the exposure, but the baking before the exposure is not necessarily performed.

 In the above embodiment, the air supply pipe and the exhaust pipe for supplying and exhausting the delivery room are provided on the ceiling of the partition wall forming the delivery chamber. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It may be provided on the bottom or on the side wall. In either case, it is possible to efficiently supply and exhaust the delivery room.

Although the machine room is arranged adjacent to the main chamber in Fig. 1, the machine room may be arranged below the floor of the clean room (utility space). In this case, the light source may be arranged under the floor. In the air conditioner, the temperature of the air was controlled, but in addition, the pressure was also controlled. You may do it.

When the ArF excimer laser light (wavelength: 193 nm) is used as the illumination light for exposure, as in the case of the illumination optical system 28, the projection optical system PL is used in the lens barrel or the projection optical system PL. An inert gas (such as nitrogen) is also supplied to the housing that contains the gas. Furthermore, in the case of using the F ₂ laser beam (wavelength 1 5 7 nm) as the exposure illumination light, the reticle stage and the wafer stage is disposed in the sub-chamber, respectively, in the illumination optical system 2 8 and the projection optical system PL In addition, an inert gas (such as helium) is also supplied between the illumination optical system 28 and the projection optical system PL, and between the projection optical system PL and the wafer W. Accordingly, in an exposure apparatus that seals at least a part of the illumination optical path from the light source to the wafer W including the inside of the light source and supplies an inert gas or the like to the inside, for example, the inert gas supplied to the illumination optical system It is preferable to provide a chemical substance removal filter (chemical filter) in the exhaust path through which the gas passes or at the outlet. Of course, a chemical filter may also be provided in the middle or at the inlet of the inert gas inflow path, and this is particularly effective when the collected inert gas is purified and reused. Further, as described above, for example, when light belonging to a vacuum ultraviolet region having a wavelength of about 120 nm to 200 nm is used as illumination light for exposure, the inert gas (nitrogen gas, nitrogen gas, Helium gas) is used.

 << 2nd Embodiment >>

 Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B. Here, the same reference numerals are used for the same or equivalent components as those in the first embodiment, and the description thereof will be simplified or omitted.

 FIG. 5A shows an enlarged view of the wafer loader chamber 20 of the exposure system according to the second embodiment.

In the wafer loader chamber 20, the wafer key described in the first embodiment is provided. In addition to the carrier 84, the robot 86, and the wafer transfer device 88, a wafer position correcting mechanism 103, a briar alignment detection system 108 provided above the wafer position correcting mechanism 103, and the wafer position correcting mechanism 1 03, an atmosphere forming apparatus that blows a gas of dry air, nitrogen, or a rare gas onto the wafer while the wafer is placed on the wafer (FIG. 5A shows a nozzle to be described later, which constitutes the atmosphere forming apparatus). (Only 104A and 104B are shown).

 The wafer position correction mechanism 103 includes a rotary table 102 capable of holding the wafer W, and a drive mechanism 101 that drives the rotary table 102 in the vertical direction and rotationally drives the rotary table 102 about a vertical axis. Have.

 The bri-alignment detection system 108 is held above the wafer position correction mechanism 103 by a holding member (not shown). This bri-alignment detection system 108 detects three bri-alignment sensors that detect the positions of the three outer edges of the wafer W (a CCD camera is used in the present embodiment, and is also referred to as a “CCD camera” below). 05A, 105B, and 105C (the CCD camera 1O5C is not shown in FIG. 5A, see FIG. 5B), and a bri-alignment control device 106 is provided. Inside the bri-alignment control device 106, image signals from the CCD cameras 105A, 105B, 105C are collected under control of a control device (not shown), and the control device is used as imaging data. Built-in image signal processing system for transmission to

 As shown in FIG. 5B, the CCD cameras 105A, 105B, and 105C are arranged so that, when one Y direction is set to the 6 o'clock direction, the 6 o'clock direction, the 4:30 o'clock direction, and They are arranged at positions where the outer edge of the wafer W in the 7:30 direction is imaged. Of these, the notch (V-shaped notch) of the wafer W held by the CCD camera 105 A force and the rotary table 102 is arranged at a position where imaging can be performed.

The atmosphere forming device includes a gas supply device (not shown) and a plurality (three in FIG. 5B) of supply pipes 107 A, 10 F B, 107 having one end connected to the gas supply device. C, and a plurality (three in FIG. 5B) of nozzles 104 A, 104 B, and 104 C connected to the other end of each of the supply pipes 107 A to 107 B, respectively. It has. From the gas supply device, any of dry air, nitrogen, and a rare gas is supplied to the wafer position correcting mechanism 10 through an air supply pipe 107 A to 107 C and a nozzle 104 A to 104 C. It is sprayed on the upper surface of the wafer W held by 3.

 Other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment.

 Hereinafter, in the second embodiment, a transfer operation of transferring the wafer W from the transfer chamber 70 into the exposure chamber 16 via the wafer loader chamber 20 will be described with reference to FIG. 5A.

 First, the robot 86 receives the wafer W from the transfer chamber 70. The method of receiving the wafer W is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the description is omitted. Then, when the arm of the robot 86 enters the wafer loader chamber 20 while holding the wafer W, the wafer W is temporarily stored in the wafer carrier 84.

 Thereafter, after a predetermined time has elapsed, when the wafer W is taken out of the wafer carrier 84 by the arm of the mouth pot 86, the wafer W is moved by the arm rotation of the robot 86 and the expansion / contraction operation, and the wafer position correction mechanism 10 3 Conveyed above. Next, the rotary table 102 is driven upward through the drive mechanism 101, so that the rotary table 102 supports the wafer W from below. In this state, the arm of the mouth bot 86 retreats.

 Next, the bri-alignment detection system 108 detects the bri-alignment of the wafer W, that is, the amount of rotation deviation and the amount of center position deviation. Based on the measurement results, the wafer position correction mechanism 103 detects the wafer W. The rotation amount is corrected. Further, the center position shift amount is stored in a storage device (not shown).

In the above embodiment, when correcting the rotation amount of the wafer, in the present embodiment, a gas supply device (not shown) is used to supply the gas through a gas supply pipe 107 A to 107 C and a nozzle 104 A to 104 C.ゥ C Dry air, nitrogen, or a rare gas is blown against the upper surface of W.

 When the correction of the rotation amount of the wafer W is completed, the arm of the wafer transfer device 88 enters below the wafer W, and the rotary table 102 is lowered, so that the wafer is transferred to the arm of the wafer transfer device 88. W is passed. When the wafer W is transferred to the arm of the wafer transfer device 88, at least the center deviation of the wafer W in the Y-axis direction is corrected based on the information stored in the storage device.

 After that, the wafer W is carried into the exposure chamber 16 as in the first embodiment. At some point before the wafer is loaded onto the wafer holder 38 on the wafer stage WST, at least the center deviation in the X-axis direction is corrected based on the information stored in the storage device described above.

 As is clear from the above description, in the present embodiment, the alignment detection system 108 and the wafer position correction mechanism 103 constitute a position shift correction device as a substrate processing device.

As described above, according to the second embodiment, any one of dry air, nitrogen, and a rare gas is supplied to at least a part of the surface of the wafer W, which is provided in the wafer position correcting mechanism 103 (spraying). ) Atmosphere forming device (gas supply device, air supply tube 107 A to 107 C, nozzle 104 A to 104 C nozzle, etc.) Chemical substances and water vapor that cause environmental degradation of the exposure equipment are removed by the gas supply device, so that the content of chemical substances in the atmosphere of the exposure apparatus main body including the stage atmosphere is suppressed to a predetermined value or less. Can be. In addition, it is possible to remove light-absorbing substances such as water vapor attached to the wafer surface to the energy beam. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the deterioration of the illuminance of the energy beam in the main body of the exposure apparatus. As a result, it is possible to maintain the yield of the final product for a long time. In the above-described embodiment, the above-described gas is blown to the wafer when the wafer rotational deviation is corrected. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and when performing wafer preparatory measurement, The above-described gas may be sprayed, or the above-described gas may be sprayed both at the time of the wafer alignment measurement and during the correction of the wafer rotational deviation.

 Alternatively, the gas may be blown onto the upper surface of the wafer W prior to the wafer alignment measurement or after the correction of the rotational deviation of the wafer W. In short, the above-mentioned gas may be blown to at least a part of the wafer surface at any time while the wafer is mounted on the wafer position correction mechanism 103.

 Further, in the second embodiment, a case has been described in which the substrate processing apparatus is configured by the wafer position correction device that detects the rotational deviation and the center position deviation of the wafer and corrects the rotational deviation, but is not limited thereto. Alternatively, a device for correcting a rotational displacement and a center displacement of a wafer may constitute a displacement correction device as a substrate processing device. As such a device, for example, a mechanism using at least three positioning pins can be adopted. Alternatively, a mechanism for detecting a rotational displacement and a center displacement of the wafer may constitute a positional deviation correction device as a substrate processing device.

 In the second embodiment, the baking device 77, the air supply pipe 87A, the exhaust pipe 87B, and the air supply / exhaust device 85 described in the first embodiment are provided in the transfer chamber 70. Need not necessarily be provided.

 In the above embodiment, the case where the atmosphere forming apparatus is installed at a position where the gas can be blown on the upper surface of the wafer W when the rotational deviation of the wafer is corrected has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a configuration as shown in FIG. 6 can be adopted.

That is, as shown in FIG. A, 104B, etc. may be installed between the wafer position correction mechanism 103 in the wafer loader chamber 20 and the wafer stage WST.

 With such a configuration, when the wafer W is subjected to the bri-alignment measurement by the bri-alignment detection system 106 and when the wafer W is corrected for the rotational deviation of the wafer W by the wafer position correcting mechanism 103, the wafer is removed. Gas cannot be blown onto the top surface of W, but gas is blown onto the top surface of wafer W during transfer of wafer W from wafer position correction mechanism 103 by wafer transfer device 88 to wafer stage WST It is possible to do. Even in this case, for example, chemical substances (including water vapor) adhering to the wafer surface and deteriorating the environment of the exposure apparatus main body are removed from the wafer surface. Deterioration of the illuminance of the energy beam in the body can be suppressed.

 In this case, the gas may be blown onto the upper surface of the wafer W during the transfer of the wafer W while the wafer W is stopped or while the wafer W is moving. In the latter case, the arrangement of the nozzles may be arranged in a direction intersecting with the transfer direction of the wafer W.

 Further, the gas may be blown onto the upper surface of the wafer W while correcting the rotational deviation of the wafer and during the transfer of the wafer from the wafer position correcting mechanism 103 to the wafer stage WST.

In the second embodiment and the modification, it is desirable that the pressure in the exposure chamber 16 be set higher than the pressure in the wafer loader chamber 20. Thus, it is possible to prevent the light absorbing material removed by blowing any of dry air, nitrogen, and a rare gas from entering the exposure chamber 16 during the transfer of the wafer W. It is further desirable to set the pressure in the wafer loader chamber 20 higher than the pressure in the transfer chamber 70. That is, it is desirable to set (adjust) the internal pressure of the transfer chamber 70, the wafer loader chamber 20, and the exposure chamber 16 so that the internal pressure increases in this order. In each of the above embodiments and modifications, the dry air, nitrogen, rare gas, or the like supplied into the transfer chamber 70 or sprayed on the wafer surface may be ionized gas.

In each of the above embodiments and variations, K r F E key as a light source, Shimareza, A r F excimer descriptions have been given of the case using an The like, not limited to this, F ₂ laser as a light source, A r _Two lasers may be used, or a metal vapor laser or a YAG laser may be used, and these harmonics may be used as illumination light for exposure. Alternatively, a single-wavelength laser beam in the infrared or visible region emitted from a DFB semiconductor laser or fiber laser is doped with, for example, erbium (Er) (or both erbium and ytterbium (Yb)). amplified by the fiber first amplifier that is, the harmonics and by converting the wavelength into ultraviolet light using a nonlinear optical crystal, it may be used as exposure illumination light ₉

 In addition, the present invention is not limited to an exposure apparatus of a step-and-repeat method, a step-and-scan method, or a step-and-stick method, for example, a mirror-projection aligner, a proximity-type exposure apparatus. , And a photo repeater. That is, the present invention can be applied to any exposure system that requires environmental control (such as air conditioning) regardless of the configuration of the exposure apparatus body.

 《Device manufacturing method》

 Next, an embodiment of a device manufacturing method using the above-described exposure system 100 in a lithographic process will be described.

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an example of manufacturing devices (semiconductor chips such as ICs and LSIs, liquid crystal panels, CCDs, thin-film magnetic heads, micromachines, etc.). As shown in FIG. 7, first, in step 201 (design step), the function of the device and the performance design (for example, circuit design of a semiconductor device, etc.) are performed, and the pattern design for realizing the function is performed. . Continue with step 202 (ma In the mask manufacturing step), a mask on which the designed circuit pattern is formed is manufactured. On the other hand, in step 203 (wafer manufacturing step), a wafer is manufactured using a material such as silicon.

 Next, in step 204 (wafer processing step), using the mask and wafer prepared in steps 201 to 203, an actual circuit is formed on the wafer by lithography technology or the like as described later. Etc. are formed. Next, in step 205 (device assembling step), device assembly is performed using the wafer processed in step 204. Step 205 includes, as necessary, processes such as a dicing process, a bonding process, and a packaging process (chip encapsulation).

 Finally, in step 206 (inspection step), inspections such as an operation check test and a durability test of the device manufactured in step 205 are performed. After these steps, the device is completed and shipped.

 FIG. 8 shows a detailed example of the step 204 in the case of a semiconductor device. In FIG. 8, in step 211 (oxidation step), the surface of the wafer is oxidized. In step 2 1 (CVD step), an insulating film is formed on the wafer surface. In step 2 13 (electrode formation step), electrodes are formed on the wafer by vapor deposition. In step 2 14 (ion implantation step), ions are implanted into the wafer. Each of the above-mentioned steps 211 to 214 constitutes a pre-processing step of each stage of wafer processing, and is selected and executed according to necessary processing in each stage.

In each stage of the wafer process, when the above-described pre-processing step is completed, the post-processing step is executed as follows. In this post-processing step, first, in step 215 (resist forming step), a photosensitive agent is applied to the wafer. Subsequently, in step 211 (exposure step), the circuit pattern of the mask is transferred to the wafer by the exposure apparatus described above. Next, Step 2 1 7 (Development In step (2), the exposed wafer is developed, and in step 218 (etching step), the exposed members other than the portion where the resist remains are removed by etching. Then, in step 219 (resist removing step), unnecessary resist after etching is removed.

 By repeating these pre-processing and post-processing steps, multiple circuit patterns are formed on the wafer.

 If the device manufacturing method of the present embodiment described above is used, the resist forming step (step 2 15), the exposing step (step 2 16), the developing step (step 2 17), etc. Since the system 100 is used, it is possible to effectively suppress a decrease in exposure accuracy due to a chemical contaminant or the like over a long period of time, thereby achieving high productivity of a highly integrated device with high productivity. Can be manufactured.

 Note that the present invention is not limited to the category 1 of the exposure system, the exposure apparatus, and the device manufacturing method, and is based on the configuration described in each of the above-described embodiments and modified examples. The present invention also includes a substrate transfer method including a step of blowing any one of dry air, nitrogen, and a rare gas. Industrial applicability

 As described above, the exposure system of the present invention is suitable for suppressing the deterioration of the environment inside the chamber constituting the exposure apparatus and maintaining the yield of the device as the final product. Further, the exposure apparatus of the present invention is suitable for maintaining the yield of devices as final products. Further, the device manufacturing method of the present invention is suitable for producing a highly integrated device.

Claims

 The scope of the claims

 1-an exposure apparatus body for exposing a substrate held on a stage by an energy beam via an optical system;

 A substrate processing apparatus for performing a predetermined process on the substrate;

 A transfer device for transferring the substrate between the stage and the substrate processing apparatus; and dry air, nitrogen, and rare gas in at least a part of a space of a transfer path of the substrate between the stage and the substrate processing apparatus. And an atmosphere forming apparatus for forming any one of gas atmospheres.

2. The exposure system according to claim 1,

 An exposure system, wherein the substrate processing apparatus performs at least one of application and development of a photosensitive agent on the substrate.

3. The exposure system according to claim 2,

 A chamber for housing the exposure apparatus main body;

 A machine room accommodating at least a part of an air conditioner for performing air conditioning in the chamber;

 The atmosphere forming apparatus connects the chamber to the substrate processing apparatus, and has a transfer unit that transfers the substrate between the substrate processing apparatus and the exposure apparatus main body. An exposure system comprising a chamber.

4. The exposure system according to claim 3,

A supply / exhaust device for supplying any of the dry air, the nitrogen, and the rare gas into the delivery chamber and exhausting the gas in the delivery chamber to the outside is further provided. An exposure system, comprising:

5. The exposure system according to claim 4,

 An exposure system, further comprising a baking device disposed inside the transfer chamber for baking the substrate.

6. The exposure system according to claim 5,

 An exposure system, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is one of a coater and a developer, and the bake is a post-exposure bake.

7. The exposure system according to claim 5,

 The delivery of the substrate is performed on the baking device.

8. The exposure system according to claim 1,

 An exposure system, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is a coater and a developer.

9. The exposure system according to claim 1,

 The exposure system according to claim 1, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is a displacement correcting apparatus that performs a process for correcting the displacement of the substrate.

10. The exposure system according to claim 9,

 A chamber that houses the exposure apparatus main body;

An exposure system, wherein the substrate processing apparatus is disposed in the chamber.

11. The exposure system according to claim 9,

 An exposure system, wherein the atmosphere forming device is provided in the displacement correcting device.

12. The exposure system according to claim 9,

 The atmosphere forming device may blow any of the dry air, the nitrogen, and the rare gas onto at least a part of the surface of the substrate during any time while the substrate is present on the displacement correction device. An exposure system, characterized in that:

13. The exposure system according to claim 9,

 The exposure system, wherein the atmosphere forming device blows any one of the dry air, the nitrogen, and the rare gas onto the substrate between the misalignment correction device and the stage.

 1 4. A device manufacturing method including a lithographic process,

 14. A device manufacturing method using the exposure system according to any one of claims 1 to 13 in the lithographic process.

15. An exposure apparatus main body for exposing a substrate via an optical system with an energy beam; a chamber for accommodating the exposure apparatus main body;

 A machine room accommodating at least a part of an air conditioner for performing air conditioning in the chamber;

A transfer unit connected to a substrate processing apparatus that performs at least one of application and development of a photosensitive agent on the substrate and that transfers the substrate between the substrate processing apparatus and the exposure apparatus main body is provided therein. A delivery room; A supply / exhaust device that supplies any of dry air, nitrogen, and a rare gas to the transfer chamber and exhausts the gas in the transfer chamber to the outside.

16. An exposure apparatus main body that exposes a substrate held on a stage by an energy beam via an optical system;

 A position shift correcting device for performing a process for correcting the position shift of the substrate; a position shift correcting device; and a position between the position shift correcting device and the stage. A gas supply device that supplies dry air, nitrogen, or a rare gas to at least a part of the exposure device.

17. The exposure apparatus according to claim 16, wherein

 The gas supply device is provided in the displacement correction device.

18. The exposure apparatus according to claim 16, wherein

 The gas supply device blows any of the dry air, the nitrogen, and the rare gas onto at least a part of the surface of the substrate during any time while the substrate is present on the displacement correction device. Exposure apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.

1 9. The exposure apparatus according to claim 16,

 The gas supply device may blow any one of the dry air, the nitrogen, and the rare gas onto the substrate on a transport path of the substrate between the displacement correction device and the stage. Exposure equipment.