WO2016208160A1

WO2016208160A1 - Imprint apparatus, imprint method, and method of manufacturing article

Info

Publication number: WO2016208160A1
Application number: PCT/JP2016/002908
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hiroaki Furukawa
Original assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Priority date: 2015-06-22
Filing date: 2016-06-16
Publication date: 2016-12-29

Abstract

An imprint apparatus brings a pattern region of a mold held by a mold holder into contact with an imprint material supplied onto a substrate held by a substrate holder and cures the imprint material. The apparatus includes a rotation mechanism configured to rotate the substrate, and a conveying mechanism configured to convey the substrate from the rotation mechanism to the substrate holder. The conveying mechanism conveys the substrate to the substrate holder after the rotation mechanism rotates the substrate in accordance with a rotation error in the pattern region in a state that the mold holder holds the mold (S510-S540).

Description

IMPRINT APPARATUS, IMPRINT METHOD, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING ARTICLE

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

An imprint apparatus has attracted attention as a new lithography apparatus for manufacturing articles such as semiconductor devices. The imprint apparatus forms a pattern by supplying an imprint material onto a substrate and molding the imprint material by using a mold. If there is a rotation error in a pattern region of a mold in a state that the mold is held by a mold holder, a rotation error occurs in a pattern formed on a substrate by using the mold.

Although Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-70174 is not a literature relating to an imprint apparatus, it discloses a rotating table which rotates a substrate. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 8-55796 is not a literature relating to an imprint apparatus, either, but describes that a mask or photosensitive substrate is finely rotated during scanning exposure.

A rotation error in a pattern region in a state that a mold holder holds a mold can be caused by, for example, the rotation of the pattern region of the mold relative to the reference surface of the mold. The rotation of the pattern region relative to the reference surface of the mold can be caused by a manufacturing error in the mold or the deformation of the mold after the manufacture. Alternatively, a rotation error in a pattern region in a state that the mold holder holds a mold can be caused by a mounting error when making the mold holder hold the mold.

If there is a rotation error in a pattern region in a state that the mold holder holds a mold, it is necessary to rotate the substrate in accordance with the error. The substrate can be rotated by rotating a substrate holder which holds the substrate. If, however, the rotation error is large, an Abbe error caused by the rotation of the substrate holder cannot be ignored. Alternatively, if a rotation error exceeds the rotation limit of the substrate holder, it is necessary to reposition the substrate on the substrate holder. This can cause a reduction in throughput.

The present invention provides a technique advantageous in allowing a rotation error in a pattern region of a mold.

One of aspects of the present invention provides an imprint apparatus which brings a pattern region of a mold held by a mold holder into contact with an imprint material supplied onto a substrate held by a substrate holder and cures the imprint material, the apparatus comprising: a rotation mechanism configured to rotate the substrate; and a conveying mechanism configured to convey the substrate from the rotation mechanism to the substrate holder, wherein the conveying mechanism conveys the substrate to the substrate holder after the rotation mechanism rotates the substrate in accordance with a rotation error in the pattern region in a state that the mold holder holds the mold.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.

Fig. 1A is a view showing the arrangement of an imprint apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 1B is a view showing the mold held by the mold holder and its peripheral portion.

Fig. 2A is a view showing an example of a rotation error in a pattern region of a mold.

Fig. 2B is a view showing an example of a rotation error in a pattern region of a mold.

Fig. 2C is a view showing an example of a rotation error in a pattern region of a mold.

Fig. 3A is a view for explaining how a substrate is repositioned on a substrate holder. Fig. 3B is a view for explaining how a substrate is repositioned on a substrate holder.

Fig. 4A is a view for explaining an Abbe error.

Fig. 4B is a view for explaining an Abbe error.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the imprint apparatus.

Fig. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of making a plurality of imprint apparatuses share a rotation error component of a pattern region.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the imprint apparatus.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the imprint apparatus.

The present invention will be described through exemplary embodiments of the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1A shows the arrangement of an imprint apparatus 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1B shows a mold 111 held by a mold holder 113 and its peripheral portion. The imprint apparatus 100 brings a pattern region 111a of the mold 111 held by the mold holder 113 into contact with an imprint material 122 supplied onto a substrate 101 held by a substrate holder 102, and cures the imprint material 122. In this case, the imprint material 122 is cured by irradiating it with light. However, this operation may be performed by other methods, for example, temperature control. Directions in the following description are defined in the x-y-z coordinate system with the x-y plane being a plane parallel to a surface on which the substrate 101 should be arranged.

The imprint apparatus 100 includes an illumination unit 142 which irradiates the imprint material 122 with light, the mold holder 113 (head mount) which holds the mold 111, a substrate driving portion 106 which drives the substrate 101, and a dispensing unit 121 (dispenser). The illumination unit 142 cures the imprint material 122 by irradiating it with light such as ultraviolet light. The illumination unit 142 can include, for example, a light source 141 and a mirror 143 which bends light emitted from the light source 141 so as to make the light entering the imprint material 122 on the substrate 101 through the mold 111. The mold 111 has, on a surface facing the substrate 101, the pattern region 111a on which a convex-concave pattern (for example, a circuit pattern) is formed. The mold 111 can be formed from a material which transmits light, for example, quartz.

The mold holder 113 may include a shape correcting unit 112 which changes the shape of the mold 111 (pattern region 111a) by holding each side of the mold 111 and exerting force to it. The mold holder 113 is driven by a mold driving portion (not shown). The mold driving portion can include, for example, actuators which drive the mold 111 in the z, ωx, and ωy directions to bring the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 into contact with the imprint material 122 supplied onto the substrate 101. In this case, ωx represents rotation around an axis parallel to the x direction, and ωy represents rotation around an axis parallel to the y direction. As the actuators, for example, there are available linear motors or air cylinders.

Fig. 1B schematically shows the shape correcting unit 112. The mold 111 includes a plurality of end faces 111e and the pattern region 111a. The shape correcting unit 112 includes actuators 112a which respectively apply forces to the end faces 111e of the mold 111. Each actuator 112a can include at least one of the following: a linear motor, an air cylinder, and a piezoelectric actuator. In the case shown in Fig. 1B, the mold 111 has a rectangular shape having the four end faces 111e, and is provided with the four actuators 112a for each end face 111e.

The imprint apparatus 100 can include scopes 114 (measurement devices) for observing marks on the mold 111, marks on the substrate 101, and reference marks 160 arranged on the substrate holder 102. In this case, it is possible to detect the relative position and relative rotation between the mold 111 and the substrate 101 by measuring the relative positions between a plurality of marks on the mold 111 and a plurality of marks on the substrate 101 based on images obtained by the scopes 114. It is also possible to detect the position and rotation of the mold 111 relative to the reference coordinate system of the imprint apparatus 100 by measuring the relative positions between a plurality of marks of the mold 111 and the reference marks 160 based on images obtained by the scopes 114. It is possible to detect the relative positions between a plurality of marks on the mold 111 and a plurality of marks on the substrate 101 by measuring the positions of the plurality of marks on the mold 111 and the plurality of marks on the substrate 101 within the visual fields of the scopes 114. Alternatively, the relative positions between the plurality of marks on the mold 111 and the plurality of marks on the substrate 101 may be detected based on interference patterns or moire patterns formed by the respective marks on the mold 111 and the corresponding marks on the substrate 101 within the visual fields of the scopes 114. It is possible to detect the relative positions between the plurality of marks on the mold 111 and the reference marks 160 by measuring the positions of the plurality of marks on the mold 111 and the reference marks 160 within the visual fields of the scopes 114.

The substrate 101 is a member formed from, for example, a material such as single crystal silicon. The dispensing unit 121 dispenses or supplies the imprint material 122 such as a light-curing resin onto the substrate 101. The substrate holder 102 includes a chuck such as an electrostatic chuck or vacuum chuck which chucks the substrate 101. The substrate holder 102 can be, for example, a fine moving stage supported by a coarse moving stage 104. A fine moving stage as the substrate holder 102 can be finely driven in the x, y, ωx, ωy, and ωz directions by fine moving actors 103. In this case, ωz represents rotation around an axis parallel to the z-axis. A coarse moving actuator 105 can drive the coarse moving stage 104 in each of the x, y, and ωz directions. The coarse moving stage 104 is installed on a stage surface plate 107 on the floor. In this case, the substrate driving portion 106 is constituted by the substrate holder 102 as a fine moving stage, the fine moving actors 103, the coarse moving stage 104, and the coarse moving actuator 105. Alternatively, the fine moving stage and the coarse moving stage can be integrated.

The imprint apparatus 100 further includes an alignment detection system for aligning the substrate 101, a moving system for moving the mold 111 and the substrate 101, and a control unit CNT. The alignment detection system includes an alignment scope 131. The alignment scope 131 can detect marks on the substrate 101 without through the mold 111, and measures the position and rotation of the substrate 101. The moving system can include a mold conveying mechanism (not shown) which conveys the mold 111, a substrate conveying mechanism 151 which conveys the substrate 101, and a rotation mechanism 152 which rotates the substrate 101. The rotation mechanism 152 and a sensor (not shown) can constitute a pre-aligner which measures the orientation of the substrate 101 and directs the orientation in a reference direction. Note that the orientation of the substrate 101 can be specified by the position of a notch or orientation flat.

The rotation mechanism 152 rotates a substrate loaded into the imprint apparatus 100. The substrate conveying mechanism 151 then conveys the substrate to the substrate holder 102 of the substrate driving portion 106 to transfer the substrate to the substrate holder 102. As schematically shown in Fig. 3B, the substrate driving portion 106 includes pins 180 which support the substrate 101 when accepting and transferring the substrate 101. When transferring the substrate 101 to the substrate driving portion 106, the substrate conveying mechanism 151 places the substrate 101 on the pins 180. When accepting the substrate 101 from the substrate driving portion 106, the substrate conveying mechanism 151 accepts the substrate 101 on the pins 180. Upon accepting the substrate 101 on the pins 180, the substrate driving portion 106 lowers the pins 180 to make the substrate holder 102 hold the substrate 101. In this case, the substrate driving portion 106 may raise the substrate holder 102 instead of lowering the pins 180.

The control unit CNT can be implemented by, for example, a PLD (Programmable Logic Device) such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), a general-purpose computer incorporating programs, or a combination of all or some of them.

The operation of the imprint apparatus 100 will be described below. The imprint apparatus 100 can be configured to have first and second modes as operation modes. The first mode is a mode of rotating the substrate 101 by rotating the substrate holder 102 in accordance with a rotation error in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 in a state that the mold holder 113 holds the mold 111. The second mode is a mode characteristic to this embodiment. The second mode is a mode of causing the substrate conveying mechanism 151 to convey the substrate 101 to the substrate holder 102 after causing the rotation mechanism 152 to rotate the substrate 101 in accordance with a rotation error in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111. In the embodiment, since the substrate holding mechanism may hold the substrate 101 in its rotated state, the rotation of the substrate is not limited to the rotation mechanism 152. For example, the substrate conveying mechanism 151 may have a function of rotating a substrate and rotate the substrate 101 during conveyance in accordance with a rotation error in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111. Note that the first mode may be omitted so that the imprint apparatus 100 may be configured to always operate in the second mode.

A rotation error in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 in a state that the mold holder 113 holds the mold 111 will be also simply referred to as a rotation error in the pattern region 111a hereinafter. A rotation error in the pattern region 111a can be caused by, for example, a manufacturing error in the mold 111 or the deformation of the mold 111 after the manufacture. Alternatively, a rotation error in the pattern region 111a can be caused by a mounting error when making the mold holder 113 hold the mold 111.

The operation of the imprint apparatus 100 in the first mode will be described first. In the first mode, under the control of the control unit CNT, the substrate conveying mechanism 151 conveys the substrate 101 to the substrate holder 102 after the rotation mechanism 152 rotates the substrate to align it in the reference direction, and the substrate holder 102 holds the substrate. A mold conveying unit (not shown) conveys the mold 111 to the mold holder 113. The mold holder 113 then holds the mold 111. The mold 111 can be aligned with the mold holder 113 by using at least one of the four end faces 111e as an alignment target.

Figs. 2A to 2C shows an example of a rotation error in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111. In the case shown in Fig. 2A, a rotation error in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 relative to the end face 111e of the mold 111 is 0. In the case shown in Fig. 2B, a rotation error (rotation amount θ) has occurred in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 relative to the end face 111e of the mold 111. In this manner, a rotation error has occurred in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 relative to the outer shape (outer circumferential shape) of the mold 111. The rotation error in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 relative to the end face 111e of the mold 111 (the outer shape of the mold 111) is large. In the case shown in Fig. 2C, a rotation error (rotation amount θ) has occurred in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 relative to the end face 111e of the mold 111. The rotation error in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 relative to the end face 111e of the mold 111 is small but not 0. A rotation error can be caused in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 relative to the end face 111e of the mold 111 by a manufacturing error in the mold 111 or the deformation of the mold 111 after the manufacture. When the mold 111 having a rotation error is aligned with the mold holder 113 by using at least one of the end faces 111e as an alignment target, the pattern region 111a has a rotation error relative to a reference coordinate system in the imprint apparatus 100.

The relative position and relative rotation between the mold 111 and each shot region of the substrate 101 are then detected under the control of the control unit CNT. More specifically, the positions of a plurality of marks on the mold 111 are detected by using the scopes 114. The positions of the plurality of marks on the mold 111 which are detected by the scopes 114 are positions in the reference coordinate system of the imprint apparatus 100. On the other hand, the positions of a plurality of marks formed on the substrate 101 are detected by using the alignment scope 131. In this case, the substrate driving portion 106 drives the substrate 101 so as to make a detection target mark on the substrate 101 enter the visual field of the alignment scope 131.

Imprinting is then performed on each shot region of the substrate 101 under the control of the control unit CNT. Imprinting is the processing of causing the dispensing unit 121 to supply the imprint material 122 onto a shot region, bringing the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 into contact with the imprint material 122, and curing the imprint material 122 by irradiating it with light from the illumination unit 142. Precision alignment between the mold 111 and each shot region can be performed by a die-by-die alignment scheme. The die-by-die alignment scheme allows simultaneous observation of marks on the substrate 101 and marks on the mold 111 by using the scopes 114. The relative positional shift and relative rotation between the shot region of the substrate 101 and the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 are detected based on this observation result. The substrate driving portion 106 and the shape correcting unit 112 are then driven to make the relative position error and relative rotation error between the mold 111 of the substrate 101 and the pattern region 111a fall within allowable ranges. The die-by-die alignment scheme is designed to align the substrate 101 and the mold 111 while they are in contact with each other through the imprint material 122. This imposes a limitation on the possible amount of alignment and also requires a long time for alignment. For this reason, the shot region of the substrate 101 and the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 should be aligned as accurately as possible before the start of alignment by the die-by-die alignment scheme.

In alignment by the die-by-die alignment scheme, if a rotation center RC of the substrate holder 102 coincides with a center SC of the substrate 101, no Abbe error occurs even when the substrate holder 102 is rotated to rotate the substrate 101, as shown in Fig. 4A. If, however, the rotation center RC of the substrate holder 102 does not coincide with the center SC of the substrate 101, an Abbe error 202 occurs when the substrate holder 102 is rotated to rotate the substrate 101, as shown in Fig. 4B. If the Abbe error 202 is large, a mark on the substrate 101 can fall outside the visual field of the scope 114 when the substrate holder 102 is rotated to rotate the substrate 101. In addition, if the amount through which the substrate 101 should be rotated exceeds the maximum rotation range of the substrate holder 102, the substrate driving portion 106 needs to reposition the substrate 101. Repositioning of the substrate 101 will be described below with reference to Figs. 3A and 3B. Repositioning of the substrate 101 is the operation of changing the state (Fig. 3A) in which the substrate holder 102 holds the substrate 101 to the state (Fig. 3B) in which the pins 180 hold the substrate 101, rotating the substrate holder 102 in this state, and then returning the state to the state in which the substrate holder 102 holds the substrate 101 (Fig. 3A). Performing such repositioning will prolong the time taken to complete alignment between the shot region of the substrate 101 and the pattern region 111a of the mold 111, resulting in a reduction in throughput.

The second mode to be described below is advantageous in suppressing the occurrence of the Abbe error 202 and repositioning of the substrate 101 as in the first mode. The operation of the imprint apparatus 100 in the second mode will be described with reference to Fig. 5. First of all, in step S510, the control unit CNT obtains a rotation error in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 in a state that the mold holder 113 holds the mold 111. It is possible to obtain a rotation error in the pattern region 111a by, for example, detecting the positions of a plurality of marks on the mold 111 by using the scopes 114 (measurement devices). Alternatively, it is possible to obtain a rotation error in the pattern region 111a by detecting the relative positions between a plurality of marks on the mold 111 and the reference marks 160 on the substrate holder 102 by using the scopes 114.

Alternatively, a rotation error in the pattern region 111a can include a rotation error component of the pattern region 111a with reference to the end face 111e of the mold 111. As exemplarily shown in Fig. 6, in this case, information 192 representing a rotation error component of each mold 111 can be stored in a storage device 190 which one or a plurality of imprint apparatuses 100 can access. The control unit CNT can obtain, from the storage device 190, the rotation error component of the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 used in the imprint apparatus 100. When the mold 111 is aligned with the mold holder 113, with the end face 111e being an alignment target, the rotation error component can be regarded as a rotation error in the pattern region 111a. Assume that a plurality of imprint apparatuses 100 can access the storage device 190. In this case, if one imprint apparatus 100 measures a rotation error component, storing the information 192 representing the rotation error component of the storage device 190 allows the remaining imprint apparatuses 100 to use the information 192. This operation is useful when the plurality of imprint apparatuses 100 use the same mold 111.

Alternatively, a rotation error in the pattern region 111a can include a rotation error component of the pattern region 111a with reference to the end face 111e of the mold 111 and the rotation of the end face 111e of the mold 111 relative to the reference coordinate system (or the reference surface) of the imprint apparatus 100. The control unit CNT can obtain the information 192 representing a rotation error component from the storage device 190. In addition, the control unit CNT can detect the rotation of the end face 111e by causing measurement devices 115 to measure the positions of a plurality of portions of the end face 111e of the mold 111. The control unit CNT can determine a rotation error in the pattern region 111a based on a rotation error component of the pattern region 111a obtained from the storage device 190 and the rotation of the end face 111e of the mold 111 detected by the measurement device 115. That is, the sum of the rotation error component of the pattern region 111a and the rotation of the end face 111e of the mold 111 corresponds to the rotation error in the pattern region 111a.

In step S520, the control unit CNT controls the substrate conveying mechanism 151 to convey the substrate 101 to the rotation mechanism 152. In step S530, the control unit CNT controls the rotation mechanism 152 to rotate the substrate 101 in accordance with a rotation error in the pattern region 111a. That is, the control unit CNT causes the rotation mechanism 152 to rotate the substrate 101 so as to cancel the rotation error in the pattern region 111a. For example, if the rotation error in the pattern region 111a is +θ, the control unit CNT causes the rotation mechanism 152 to rotate the substrate 101 by +θso as to cancel the rotation error in the pattern region 111a.

In step S540, the control unit CNT then controls the substrate conveying mechanism 151 to convey the substrate 101 from the rotation mechanism 152 to the substrate holder 102 and transfer the substrate to the substrate holder 102. The substrate 101 transferred to the substrate holder 102 in this manner has already been rotated in accordance with the rotation error in the pattern region 111a. That is, the substrate 101 transferred to the substrate holder 102 has already been rotated so as to cancel the rotation error in the pattern region 111a. It is therefore not necessary to cause the substrate driving portion 106 to rotate the substrate 101 (substrate holder 102) in accordance with the rotation error in the pattern region 111a. The second mode is therefore advantageous in reducing an Abbe error and suppressing repositioning of the substrate 101. Reducing the Abbe error will reduce the possibility that a mark on the substrate 101 will fall outside the visual field of the scope 114. In addition, suppressing repositioning of the substrate 101 will increase the throughput.

In step S550, the control unit CNT controls the execution of imprinting. Imprinting is the processing of causing the dispensing unit 121 to supply the imprint material 122 onto a shot region, bringing the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 into contact with the imprint material 122, and curing the imprint material 122 by irradiating it with light from the illumination unit 142.

The imprint apparatus 100 can have a third mode instead of the second mode or in addition to the first and second modes. The operation of the imprint apparatus 100 in the third mode will be described below with reference to Fig. 7. In the third mode, a rotation error in the pattern region 111a is measured during an operation on a first substrate or before the conveyance of the first substrate to the substrate holder 102. In this case, the first substrate is a substrate, of a lot constituted by a plurality of substrates, which is processed first. A substrate processed after the first substrate will be referred to as the second substrate. In the third mode, the substrate driving portion 106 rotates the first substrate in accordance with the rotation error in the pattern region 111a.

First of all, in step S700, the control unit CNT determines whether the substrate 101 to be processed is the first substrate. If this substrate is the first substrate, the process advances to step S702. If the substrate is the second substrate, the process advances to step S714. In step S702, the control unit CNT controls the substrate conveying mechanism 151 to convey the first substrate to the rotation mechanism 152. In step S704, the control unit CNT controls the rotation mechanism 152 to rotate the first substrate to make it face the reference direction. In step S706, the control unit CNT measures the rotation error in the pattern region 111a of the mold 111 in a state that the mold holder 113 holds it, by using any one of the above methods. In step S708, the control unit CNT controls the substrate conveying mechanism 151 to convey the first substrate from the rotation mechanism 152 to the substrate holder 102 and transfer the substrate to the substrate holder 102. In step S710, the control unit CNT controls the substrate driving portion 106 to rotate the first substrate in accordance with the rotation error in the pattern region 111a. That is, the control unit CNT causes the substrate driving portion 106 to rotate the first substrate so as to cancel the rotation error in the pattern region 111a. If, for example, the rotation error in the pattern region 111a is +θ, the control unit CNT causes the substrate driving portion 106 to rotate the first substrate by +θso as to cancel the rotation error in the pattern region 111a. When the substrate driving portion 106 rotates the first substrate, the necessity of repositioning can occur. In step S712, the control unit CNT controls the execution of imprinting on the first substrate.

In step S714, the control unit CNT controls the substrate conveying mechanism 151 to convey the second substrate to the rotation mechanism 152. In step S716, the control unit CNT controls the rotation mechanism 152 to rotate the second substrate in accordance with the rotation error in the pattern region 111a which is measured in step S706. In step S718, the control unit CNT controls the substrate conveying mechanism 151 to convey the second substrate from the rotation mechanism 152 to the substrate holder 102 and transfer the substrate to the substrate holder 102. The second substrate transferred to the substrate holder 102 in this manner has already been rotated in accordance with the rotation error in the pattern region 111a. That is, the substrate 101 transferred to the substrate holder 102 has already been rotated to cancel the rotation error in the pattern region 111a. It is therefore not necessary to cause the substrate driving portion 106 to rotate the second substrate (substrate holder 102) in accordance with the rotation error in the pattern region 111a. It is not necessary to reposition the second substrate, either. In step S720, the control unit CNT controls the execution of imprinting on the second substrate. In step S722, the control unit CNT determines whether imprint processing is complete for all the substrates. If NO in step S722, the process returns to step S714.

The imprint apparatus 100 can have a fourth mode instead of the second or third mode or in addition to the first to third modes. The operation of the imprint apparatus 100 in the fourth mode will be described below with reference to Fig. 8. In the fourth mode, the scopes 114 (measurement devices) measure the relative positions between marks on the mold 111 and marks on the first substrate to detect the relative rotation error between the pattern region 111a and the first substrate as a rotation error in the pattern region 111a. The rotation mechanism 152 rotates the second substrate in accordance with the rotation error in the pattern region 111a which is detected by the scopes 114 (measurement devices) using the first substrate. In the fourth mode, the substrate driving portion 106 rotates the first substrate in accordance with the rotation error in the pattern region 111a.

The same step numbers in Fig. 8 denote the same steps as in Fig. 7. In the fourth mode, the first substrate is conveyed to the substrate holder 102 in step S708 instead of step S706 in the third mode, and step S706' is executed after the substrate holder 102 holds the substrate. In step S706', the control unit CNT measures the relative positions between a plurality of marks on the mold 111 and a plurality of marks on the first substrate by using the scopes 114 (measurement devices). With this operation, the control unit CNT detects the relative rotation error between the pattern region 111a and the first substrate. This rotation error can be determined as a rotation error in the pattern region 111a. The rotation error in the pattern region 111a determined in this manner includes a conveying error at the time of the transfer of the first substrate (substrate 101) to the substrate holder 102 by the substrate conveying mechanism 151. This conveying error is regarded to be almost constant during the conveyance of a plurality of substrates. It is therefore possible to cancel the conveying error caused by the substrate conveying mechanism 151 in advance by causing the rotation mechanism 152 to rotate the second substrate in step S716 in accordance with the rotation error in the pattern region 111a determined in this manner.

In the above mode, the rotation error in the pattern region 111a determined once is continuously used. This rotation error can however change by repeated imprinting, that is, repeated contact and separation between an imprint material and the mold 111 and repeated irradiation with light. For this reason, the rotation error in the pattern region 111a may be updated based on a measurement result obtained by die-by-die alignment at the time of imprinting on each shot region.

A method of manufacturing a device (a semiconductor device, liquid crystal display device, or the like) as an article includes a step of forming a pattern on a substrate (a wafer, glass plate, film-like substrate, or the like) by using the above imprint apparatus. The manufacturing method also includes a step of processing (for example, etching) the substrate on which the pattern is formed. When manufacturing other types of articles such as patterned media (recording media) and optical elements, the manufacturing method can include another type of processing, instead of etching, for a substrate on which a pattern is formed. The method of manufacturing an article according to this embodiment is advantageous over the related art in terms of at least the performance, quality, productivity, or production cost of articles.

Other Embodiments
Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a 'non-transitory computer-readable storage medium') to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)^TM), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.

While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-125116, filed June 22, 2015, and Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-119151, filed June 15, 2016, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

Claims

An imprint apparatus which brings a pattern region of a mold held by a mold holder into contact with an imprint material supplied onto a substrate held by a substrate holder and cures the imprint material, the apparatus comprising:
a rotation mechanism configured to rotate the substrate; and
a conveying mechanism configured to convey the substrate from the rotation mechanism to the substrate holder,
wherein the conveying mechanism conveys the substrate to the substrate holder after the rotation mechanism rotates the substrate in accordance with a rotation error in the pattern region in a state that the mold holder holds the mold.
The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a measurement device configured to detect the rotation error.
The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the measurement device measures positions of a plurality of marks formed on the mold, and detects the rotation error based on the positions of the plurality of marks.
The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the substrate holder has a reference mark, and
the measurement device measures relative positions between a plurality of marks formed on the mold and the reference mark, and detects the rotation error based on the relative positions.
The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the rotation error includes a rotation error component of the pattern region with reference to an end face of the mold,
the rotation error component is obtained from a storage device, and
the conveying mechanism conveys the substrate to the substrate holder after the rotation mechanism rotates the substrate in accordance with the rotation error component.
The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a measurement device configured to detect a rotation of an end face of the mold,
wherein the rotation error includes a rotation error component of the pattern region with reference to the end face and a rotation of the end face,
the rotation error component is obtained from a storage device, and
the rotation error is determined based on the rotation error component and a rotation of the end face detected by using the measurement device.
The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a second substrate is processed after a first substrate is processed,
the measurement device measures relative positions between a plurality of marks formed on the mold and a plurality of marks formed on the first substrate, and
the rotation error is determined based on the relative positions.
An imprint method comprising:
rotating a substrate by using a rotation mechanism;
conveying the substrate rotated by the rotation mechanism to a substrate holder and causing the substrate holder to hold the substrate; and
supplying an imprint material onto the substrate held by the substrate holder, bringing a pattern region of a mold held by a mold holder into contact with the imprint material, and curing the imprint member,
wherein in the rotating, the substrate is rotated by the rotation mechanism in accordance with a rotation error in the pattern region in a state that the mold holder holds the mold.
A method of manufacturing an article, comprising:
forming a pattern on an imprint material on a substrate by using an imprint apparatus defined in any one of claims 1 to 7; and
processing the substrate by using the pattern formed on the imprint material.